Journey's Beginning
by lilac0128
Summary: Rose was running towards the Doctor and he towards her, until she saw a Dalek aiming at him. In a split second she did the only thing that made sense: She launched herself at him, knocking him out of the way just as the beam pierced through her body. AU Jouney's End, with reference to the 50th anniversary episode.
1. Chapter 1: The Darkest Hour

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I do, it would have been much different than it is now.**

 **A/N: So this story came to me for a couple of reasons: 1. I felt the Bad Wolf story arc had so much potential, but was being wrapped up rather lousily. 2. As much as I enjoyed the epic yet heart wrenching episode, I could not help but feel both the Doctor and Rose were terribly out of character. For the Doctor, I understand they may have tried to make TenToo more Doctor like to emphasize the point that he was the same as Ten. But the point was sort of lost by making Ten less Doctor like. As for Rose, seriously, there was no reason to make the poor girl go through so much to return, just to be useless for the entire episode and then got dumped again. If I were Rose I would have been pissed (Which is why I could never write a TenToo/Rose fic with a happy ending. Believe me I have tried). Granted, the resolution of their relationship does have its merit. I just wish it could be better executed.**

 **That being said. Hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I did writing it.**

 **P.S. This is a finished story, I only need to edit it into chapters and post them. I'll try to get at least one chapter out a day.**

* * *

Rose Tylor walked in the abandoned street. Cars were gracelessly discarded everywhere, doors still open yet no sight of drivers or passengers alike. It was quiet, too quiet for the usually busy street, no signs of life, nor anything living.

Her eyes were hard and cold, taking into the scene of devastation, the huge gun strapped on her shoulder weighted heavily, like her heart.

She'd finally made it, but perhaps it was too late.

Then she saw, just at the turning of the corner, something that was all too familiar, something that she'd been longing, somewhere her heart had been yearning, someone that the mere thoughts of him had brought her hope, in the darkest years of her life. It had been the only thing that kept her fighting, through the fiercest drought and storm, so that one day she would come back, where her heart belonged.

The blue box that was the TARDIS, and the brown pinstriped figure leaning against it.

That was the Doctor, _her Doctor._

The Doctor, on the other hand, being too engrossed in the conversation with Donna, had not seemed to realize the happenings, until he saw Donna's eyes landed somewhere behind him, and turned soft.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" she said.

His eyes narrowed in speculation as he muttered his confusion soundlessly. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

He turned around reluctantly, eyes grew huge with shock as he take into the figure of someone he thought he had lost forever. She flashed him a warm smile, so genuine and beautiful, like a bright beam of sunshine in the darkness, the sunshine that he had missed so much, for so long.

That was Rose, _his Rose._

Had he not known that Time Lords didn't sleep as much, he would have thought it was a dream. Yet that pink and yellow human who managed to stay in his dreams even when he had forgotten about himself, was indeed standing there, on the other end of the street, only a mere hundred yards away.

Before he knew it, he was dashing toward her direction in speed he never could have imagined.

Rose felt her heart flared with pure joy, something she thought she had lost permanently since the battle of Canary Wharf, something that was now reflected by the ecstatic grin that quickly replaced the astonishment on the handsome face she loved so much. It was a grin she had missed sorely, so bright that it could make the sun and the moon shy away, and bring her out of restless dreams with tears, day after day.

Seeing her beloved running towards her, those warm brown eyes lit with excitement, Rose felt the weight of the world simply withered away. Darkness and devastation mattered no more. It was all about them, right there, right then, Sir Doctor of TARDIS and Dame Rose of the Powell Estate, reunited after a separation for too long.

Despite the heavy gun strapped to her shoulder, Rose was running, and running fast, faster than ever, faster than the countless times she was running for her life, both when they were travelling together and when she was alone in the alternative universe.

Suddenly, her peripheral vision caught the sight of something that brought her to a dead halt. A Dalek, sneaked up in god-knows-when, disguised itself behind an abandoned car, blue glim of the eye socket focused on the Doctor who was completely unaware of the danger, weapon ready.

 _Oh NO! This CAN'T be happening!_

 _"EXTERMINATE!"_

The robotic sound of Dalek's battle cry was like voice from hell. Rose felt her blood running cold yet her entire body went Code Mauve. She saw the Doctor freeze in place just a few steps away from her, staring at the Dalek in horror-struck disbelief.

In the split a of second, years of Torchwood training kicked in, so she did the only thing that made sense - She launched herself at him, knocking him out of the way just as the laser beam of the Dalek pierced through her body. Rose barely let out a muffled cry of pain before hitting hard on the concrete floor.

Over the years working for Torchwood in Pete's world, Rose had been shot several times, by human bullets and alien blasters alike. However none of those felt even remotely close to this one. Unlike most weapons that would cause physical trauma, Dalek beams were designed for killing. She was certain that it did not leave a scratch on her skin, yet she could clearly feel that every cell in her body was dying.

Somehow her mind wondered to the conversation with her first Doctor just before he changed.

 _Gosh, is this what regeneration feels like?_

Except that she knew she was not regenerating, she was dying. A loud explosion pierced through her hearings from where the Dalek was, followed by a familiar voice calling her and the Doctor's name. She heard Donna's scream and rushing steps, and she saw her Doctor, scramble to his feet, alive and unharmed.

With that, she let out a long sigh in relief, closed her eyes and let herself drift to the abyss of darkness.

 _I just want you to be safe, my Doctor._

Donna Nobel was leaning on the side of the TARDIS, a gentle smile spread across her face as she watched the sweet reunion scene unfolding in front of her. She had been travelling with the Doctor for some time now and had seen a fair share of his emotion swings. She'd seen his cheeky grin and maniac laugh, all the light-heartedness that had been deliberately played up. But she had never seen him happy, _truly happy_ , until now.

She couldn't help but recall the first time they've met, when she was brought into the TARDIS by the mysterious golden light while walking down the aisle on her wedding day. After all these years she would still roll her eyes at that memory for how ridiculous it turned out to be. And she still remembered the look he gave her when she was in full panicking mode and accused him of kidnapping. _Oh such look,_ speaking of loss so profound, and a soul so weary. He insisted that he had lost a friend, but she knew better. The sorrow in his eyes did not belong to a man who had lost a mate, it belonged to a man who had lost his heart.

People would always say that time can heal everything. The truth was, time could not heal anything, but it could certainly help you get better at hiding it, which was definitely the case with her Time Lord friend. During their time travelling together, he had not shown his emotions so much ever again. But in more than one occasion she had caught him staring into the far distance, with the emptiness that could not be filled by anything in this universe except one human girl, who, ironically, did not belong to this universe any more.

But there she was, running towards him just as fast as he towards her, both were practically glowing with happiness. Donna felt her heart was melting at the serenity of the scene, until the sound of a harsh battle cry, and all hell broke loose.

Everything happened so fast, in a blink of an eye. She gasped at the turn of events as she saw Rose lying on the ground, motionless, and the Doctor trying to get back on his feet with the expression of utter confusion and consternation, as if for the first time his supreme Time Lord brain had failed to register what was going on. Then a man appeared out of nowhere, holding a blaster that sent the offending Dalek aflame. The sound of explosion snapped her back to reality. She started running towards the girl, silently praying to every single god/goddess that was known to her that Rose was OK, that somehow that Dalek had missed her.

The Doctor beat her to it. He scrambled to Rose with all four limbs and dropped down on her side, cradling her so tightly as if she was the most precious thing in the entire universe (to him, she probably was). His shaky fingers brushed her golden locks away from her face, Donna gasped again at how pale it had become.

"Come on now, I've got you." She heard the Doctor muttering in a soft, low voice. "It missed, didn't it? Look, it's me, we haven't seen each other for a long time, have we? Don't you want to see me?"

The girl in his arms remained still, and Donna felt her heart sank.

"Oh please, Rose, open your eyes! You _can't_ die!" the Doctor's voice pleading, "I just got you back! Please don't , oh, please don't leave me again." Finally he buried his face into her hair and broke down into a sob. Donna couldn't bear it any more. She forced herself to look aside, and wiped away tears on her own cheeks.

"We need to get her into the TARDIS, quickly!" The man with the blaster returned, voice commanding. Donna recognized him, Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood, the Doctor just introduced him to her during their subwave conference not too long ago.

Jack first tried to pull the Doctor up by his shoulder, failing that, he walked around and unfastened Rose's weapon and held it in his free hand.

"Oh please, give the man a minute of mourning, will ya?" Donna protested.

"We don't _have_ a minute!" Jack's voice harsh, piercing blue eyes looked straightly into her green ones that caused her to step back involuntarily.

Jack sighed loudly, shuffling both weapons in one hand and put the other comfortingly on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Doctor, we need to get her inside the TARDIS." His voice solemn, but much gentler this time, "There are more Daleks coming and I've only got one gun working. We've got to get her inside. Don't you want her to be safe?"

That did it. The Doctor's head snapped up, then effortlessly rose to his feet while holding Rose securely in his arms. He walked passed Donna without a side glance, but she took the chance to peak into his eyes, and felt her own heart shattering into pieces.

Those dark brown eyes were beyond sorrow, beyond grief. They looked like something inside of him had just died.

Jack Harkness was leaning forward facing the TARDIS console, putting most of the body weight on his arms, shoulder slump. His head hung low, appeared to be deep in thought.

 _How did everything get so bad, so fast?_

For all he could remember, one minute he was talking to the Doctor over the webcam and everything seemed to be fine. The next, he was blowing the head of a Dalek and running for the TARDIS. And now, the Doctor was slouching against a reef of coral, with Rose's lying limply on his laps. His hand was mechanically stroking her hair in a slow, steady rhythm, eyes unfocused, with unfathomable emptiness.

Jack had to tilt his head and pull away from the sight. For over a hundred years of unable to die, he had his fair share of loss and grief. But this was different, this was Rose.

Rose had always been special. There is something about her, be it the spark in her eyes or the chirps in her voice, he did not know. But it made it so hard for anyone to dislike her. He himself loved her, not in _that_ way, of course. Well, not any more after the first few weeks they'd met, in fear of pissing off a jealous and possessive Time Lord. Nevertheless he had loved her as a friend, no, that was an understatement, a _family_ was more appropriate. He'd remembered when he first saw the list of dead after the battle of Canary Wharf, the name Rose Tyler had struck him hard with horror. when he finally reunited with the doctor at the end of the universe, and learned that Rose was alive and well with her family, albeit in a different universe, he was burst with joy like nothing in a long time. It was soon followed by a deep regret as he learned that she was gone, trapped in a different universe and never to return. The Doctor's response however, was something he'd seen, in two of his incarnations, the closest to admission of his long supressed affection. He'd only hoped that he had a chance to say it to her because as of now, it was too late.

Jack felt anger and rage rose from deep down his core. The Daleks had taken her, snatched her away from people she loved and loved her in turn, now there is an empire of them trying to take over the earth.

 _Not going to happen, not over my dead body._

And for the first time, he was glad that he would never be a dead body.

Shaking his head out of the sentiment, he walked over to the Doctor

"Doctor, she is gone, and I'm sorry. But right now there is a war going on, if we don't stop it, more people will die. Do you want to see that happen?"

The Doctor's hand stopped, only to resume the same mechanical motion momentarily, as if the death and destruction of the world did not matter to him anymore.

Jack run both of his hands though his hair in frustration, but before he could think of something else to say, he was stopped by a hand placed gently on his shoulder.

"Please Captain, allow me."

Donna helplessly watched the Doctor drowning deep in sorrow. Her heart went out to him but she could not think of a single word in consolation. For the first time she felt her sharp tongue had abandoned her.

For all those time she had known the Doctor, Donna had long realized that despite his cheeky, cheering, happy-go-lucky personality, he would take every death and loss to his heart, and let them weigh down his soul. But losing Rose in such a horrific way had more impact than all of them combined. She _was_ his heart and soul.

While her condolences to be with the Doctor, she agreed with the Captain that something must be done, before the situation became too dire.

Donna walked over and knelt down in front of the Doctor, cupping his cheeks and gently moved his chin, forcing his unfocused eyes to look in her direction.

"Doctor, listen to me," her voice gentle but firm. "Rose was a brave girl. She had worked so hard, and gone so far, to warn you about the upcoming doom of the earth. She sacrificed her life to save you, so that you can save the world, and millions of people living in it. She was trying to help you like she'd always been. Would you want to disappoint her? Would you want her sacrifice to be in vain? Do you really want to see the Daleks, the same creature that had taken her away, to rule the earth and take over the universe?"

She saw the Doctor's hand stop abruptly, eyes slowly gaining focus, growing dark and deep, with a hint of turbulence brewing behind, like the sky before an oncoming storm.

At this very instance, the power in the TARDIS went out.

"What happened, why is the power gone?" Donna yelped in panic.

"Some kind of Chronon loop, I suppose." Jack sounded much calmer, but the tension in his voice was for anyone to hear. "Cutting off the power and taking down its defence system."

As if agreeing with him, the TARDIS stumbled, then started to fly on its own.

"They've got us." The Doctor's nonchalant voice rang through the darkness, causing the other two passengers to jump.

He had now moved beside the jump seat, carefully laying down Rose's body as if making sure she was comfortable, and gently brushed her hair away from her face.

He held both her hands in his, admiring how perfectly they still fit together, yet pained by how cold they felt.

"They are taking us aboard." He finished the sentence gravely

"But where, where are they taking us?" Donna asked desperately, fear apparent in her voice.

"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets, they are calling it the Crucible. Guess that's out destination." Jack answered Donna's question solemnly, but his eyes never leave the sight of the Doctor.

 _So be it_

The Doctor's lips curled into a cruel smile. The Crucible, heart of the Dalek empire, sounded like the exact place he needed to be.

They'd hurt Rose, they'd _killed_ her, and that was a huge mistake. Because right now, things had become incredibly simple-he would ensure they were aware of how stupid they had been, and make them pay the price of whatever he saw fit.

He'd lost his planet, his people, and his love, all because of the bloody Daleks who seemed to be able survive like cockroaches. It was time to put everything to a stop.

As TARDIS stumbled to a landing, he exchanged a few glances with Jack under the dim emergency lights, a plan was forming silently.

"Doctor, you will have to step forth or die!" A robotic voice sounded through the wooden door.

"What do we do now?" Donna's voice was barely above a whisper, masked in sheer fear.

"We'll have to go out." The Doctor said plainly.

"That's it? You are just going to walk out there, hands in the air and _surrender_?" Donna's temper seemed to have overpowered her fear, causing her voice to raise one octave higher.

"Do you have any better ideas? 'Cause if we don't, they will get in." The Doctor sounded almost apathetic, so much so that Donna wondered if she had ever really known him.

"But…but you said nothing can get through those doors." She murmured, clinging on the last bit of hope.

"The extrapolator shielding has been taken down. We are facing a fully-fledged Dalek empire, at the height of its power, experts at fighting TARDIS. They can do anything." The Doctor was completely oblivious of Donna being on the edge of a nerve breakdown.

"Right now, that wooden door is just wood. You are no safer inside. So come with us." He was heading to the door as he finished the statement, with Jack closely followed suit.

"Why is this happening to me?" Donna cried out, causing both men to turn around and stare at her

"I am just a temp from Chiswick, what have I ever done to deserve this?" she buried her face in both hands and broke down into a sob.

A surge of guilt rose up inside the Doctor. They only reason she'd been here was because of him. Rose died to save him, but he had led Donna to her death.

"I'm sorry, Donna, but there is nothing else we can do." For the first time after Rose's death, he seemed to have regained some emotion.

At that, he gave his beloved one last glance, and headed for the door, without looking back.

He was sorry for all those who died for him, who died because of him, and who had lost someone because they came to associate with him. Perhaps the Master was right, he was a dangerous man, nothing followed him but death and destruction. Perhaps it was finally the time to put all these to a stop, once and for all.

However, he was not sorry for the Daleks, for they were just about as guilty as him in everything. He was going to play the judge, the jury, and the executioner, one last time.

He stroked the doorknob of the TARDIS gently, feeling the soft hum in the back of his mind.

Once he stepped outside, he did not expect to come back.


	2. Chapter 2: The Impossible Choice

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, though I wish I did.**

 **A/N: Wow, you guys rock. One chapter and I've already got 6 favourite and 16 follows, the first one came less than 10 minutes after the chapter got posted. Thank you. Here is another one, hopefully I can get one or two more chapters posted later today.**

 **Now perhaps it was too early to ask, but if you can drop a line or two in review, that would be _fantastic_!**

* * *

Rose found herself standing mid-hill on a far stretched mountain under burnt orange sky. A bright red sun was hanging high, while a second one was just rising above the far horizon, making the mountains shine. Silver leaves of trees caught the light, the forests looked as if they were on fire.

As she took in the surroundings, she was astound and bewildered at the same time.

It was breathtakingly beautify. Rose was certain that she had never been here before, yet somehow, everything seemed to generate a strange sense of familiarity, as if… as if she'd gone home.

And the knowledge of her pertaining death slowly sinking in did little to help clear the matter.

 _Where am I, why am I here, and how?_

After a short moment of weighing different options, she started heading uphill, in hoping to get a better view of her whereabouts on a higher altitude, all the while tracing her memories in search for clues to make sense of everything.

She remembered being shot by a Dalek, feeling every cell of her body dying, and the next thing she knew, she was here.

 _Is this a place where you end up after death?_

After spending two years with the Doctor and many more studying time and space in the parallel universe, Rose was not one to believe in heaven. Nevertheless she did not seem to have a theory for her current situation, either. Her body kept moving and her mind kept racing, until a horrific realization dawned on her and she came to a sudden stop.

A long time ago on Satellite Five, she was struck by the disintegration beam. But instead of being blasted into atoms as it was said to, she was transported to a fleet full of Daleks.

Could this situation be similar to that one? She did not know. But if it was, at any given second she could be facing a Dalek army of hundreds, and this time, she was _not_ going to sit around helplessly and wait for the Doctor to come rescue her.

Years of separation and Torchwood had changed her. When she got back, she had no intention to continue being his "associate", seeking safety under his protection. She wanted to be his _equal_ , standing by his side, sharing his burden, and facing whatever the universe through at them, together. If the Daleks was playing the old tricks of getting to the Doctor through her, well, they'd better be ready for a hell of a fight.

Instinctively she reached for her gun, only to find that it was not there anymore. Worse still, it appeared that her backup weapon hidden under her trouser leg had disappeared as well. Panic started to rise despite her best effort to keep it under control. Courage aside, there was no way she could face down an army of Daleks empty handed.

From a distance, she heard a weird sound that was similar to a wolf howl.

"Rose Tyler, I've been waiting for you."

* * *

Donna stood silently watching the Doctor exiting the TARDIS, with Jack close behind. A wave of embarrassment and shame crashed on her. She could not believe she actually snapped at him, in fear of her death, when she knew full well that he would risk his own life for his companion's safety at any given time.

 _Oh, what an arse you are!_

She cursed herself internally, but deep down, she knew, that of all the companions the Doctor had ever chosen, she had always been the least competent.

She remembered the Doctor talking about his old companions during the time they traveled together. Sarah Jane Smith, who led her own adventures after the Doctor's departure, and still was able to lend a helping hand decades later; Martha Jones, who were there during the worst time of his life when the pain and grief of losing Rose were still fresh, held him on his feet and kept him going. When that was no longer necessary, she went on to have a life of her own, and became a medical officer of the UNIT. Mickey Smith, Rose's "stupid lump of an ex-boyfriend", surprised everyone by staying behind in a parallel universe after a defeated Cybermen invasion, took place of his deceased parallel self and became a steel warrior, defender of the earth.

And of course, there was Rose, good old Rose Tyler, holding every inch of the Doctor's emotions at her fingertips. Donna would never forget how his face lit up with pride and joy every time he talked about his past adventures with Rose, only to be crushed by pain and sorrow once he realized those good time was gone, forever.

Then there was her, a temp from Chiswick, getting by her boring life one day at a time, no wit, no courage, and always missed the big picture.

But the Doctor had taken her to the stars, showed her the universe and the infinite possibility's out there. He expanded her own life, made her feel special and important, more than she could give herself credit for.

Yet here and now, in the worst day of his life, when everything that mattered to him had been snatched away, she blamed him for her own doom.

She was stupid and useless as she had ever been.

It had been good, though, all of them, all of it, everything they did. It might have been too much for her fragile nerve to bear sometimes, but she would not have it any other way.

She inhaled deeply and shook herself out of the mind babbling. "Blimey!" she muttered, and started moving forward.

A glimpse of light caught her attention and stopped her on her track. Two streaks of golden white particles leaked out of the TARDIS console like a smoke, one streamed into the Doctor's spare hand in the jar, the other was absorbed by Rose's body on the jump seat.

It must have only lasted a split of a second because it disappeared before Donna could finish blinking.

 _Oh, look at you, delirious already._

She laughed once again at her own coward reaction before heading for the door.

And the door slammed shut right in her face.

"Doctor! What have you done! Oi! Let me out, I am not staying behind!"

* * *

Rose sprang around at the voice calling her name, hands instinctively raised to her chest, chin tucked in, feet stood shoulder-wide as she got into full combat motion, only to come face to face with… _herself?_

The other girl raised an eyebrow, watching her with barely hidden amusement.

"Oh, no need to go all mauve here, it's just a little wolf."

Rose narrowed her eyes at her identical twin. Well, maybe not so identical, for while her hair was straight and sleek, the other girl's was wavy and wild. The garments on her were worn and torn, as if she had been in a battle. The biggest differences, however, lay in the eyes. Her brown eyes might have been cold and hard after years of fighting, the other girl's eyes were fierce and feral, with a hint of golden light glowing inside.

Suddenly, a familiar name from distant memories came to her.

 _Bad Wolf, she is the Bad Wolf!_

"Yup, that's me. Hello!" As if reading her mind, the girl flashed a cheeky grin, and waved her hand cheerfully.

"But… but how is that even possible? I mean… he took it out of me, and he had to regenerate because of that. Yet here you are, standing right in front of me. You even _look_ like me!"

"He took the _time vortex_ out of you, that's what caused the regeneration, not me!" Bad Wolf objected, hands on her hips, a gesture that caused Rose to raise her eye brows.

"And of course I look like you, I _am_ you, he could never take that out, could he?"

"What?"

Rose found herself completely lost and utterly confused, her brain felt like a short circuit that simply could not comprehend anything, hell, she could not comprehend, period.

The Bad Wolf sighed exasperatedly. She moved quickly, pulled herself in so that their faces were only inches apart.

"You," she said, pointing a figure at her nose tip, "and me," she thumbed herself, "are one and the same. One consciousness split in two, Bad Wolf, Rose Tyler. Got that, yeah?" She rocked on her heels and moved a few steps back, satisfied to see the shocking expression on Rose's face.

"Obviously, how else do you think you got here while your body was dead and rotting on earth?"

"All right, tell me then, why my body is dead but my consciousness still existed?" Rose decided that instead of her pulling her hair out trying figure out things that didn't make sense, a more direct approach would be beneficial, for the sake of her sanity.

"The Dalek beams don't damage the body, it only extinguishes the consciousness. When the consciousness was gone, the body automatically goes into death mode. Most weapons work the other way around. It damaged the body so that the consciousness loses its host, and therefore, goes into stasis.

"However, because I am you, the moment you made up your mind, I sensed it. That few seconds were all I need to shield your consciousness away, and pull it here shortly after."

Rose stood in silence for a while, chewing on the words and trying to digest them.

"OK. That explains _how_ I got here. What about the where and why? And why our consciousness got split in the first place?"

The Bad Wolf signed, her face became sober, the golden light in the eyes diminished.

"It was a long story, this is where everything started. You are here because you need to be." She gestured around.

"And this is Gallifrey, the last day the Time War."

That knowledge hit Rose like a bomb shell. She felt her heart beat increased its pace suddenly, and her breath stopped.

 _But how is that even possible? The Doctor said the planet was destroyed._ He himself _destroyed it!_

"That was what he believed, or rather, remembered."

"Then what did happen?" Rose asked.

"He changed his mind, I was there, helping him along the way, to ensure him he will have a future, a future he deserves. But he doesn't remember any of it, it is not the time yet for him to remember."

The Bad Wolf turned, her golden eyes stared right into Rose's brown ones.

"And you, Rose Tyler, you are his future, a future I have promised him. You have made him better, as he has made you."

Rose did not know if she felt relieved, upset, or genuinely lost. Probably she was feeling a bit of all three - relieved because the Doctor's home planet had not been destroyed; upset because all the guilt and self-loathe he had suffered for years had all been for crimes he never committed; and lost because pretty much everything else. And just what did she mean by she was his future?

There were more than a million questions running through her head, but she knew it was neither the time nor the place to ask.

"You said you were waiting for me, and I needed to be here." She paused, eyes focus on the wolf girl. "You must know what's on earth. Right now, everyone that matters to me is down there, fighting a war, so tell me why am I standing here, talking to myself, instead of down there trying to save the world?"

The Wolf stared at her intently before looking away, her eyes glowing brighter and focused into the far distance.

"I saw darkness, stars were dying, universes collapsing, even the voids were dead."

"Yes, and?" Rose was trying very hard to be patient.

The Wolf gave her a glance, then continue staring into a distance.

"And I saw how it will end. The world is saved, but at a cost far too great. Three lives are ruined, four hearts are broken, despair will reign, then all will be forgotten."

She looked back at her counterpart, who was bemused by her riddle like prophecy. The golden light in her eyes were replaced by a soft brown sheen.

"But I want to give you something better. You both deserve it."

"I thought you were not supposed to manipulate the timeline of an occurring event." Rose asked speculatively.

"And I thought you were not supposed to go universe hopping. Does it ever stop you?" The Wolf replied with one brow raised.

They both chuckled in unison.

"Alright, then. What do you need me to do?" Asked Rose.

The Wolf held out one hand to her invitingly, and she took it without hesitation.

"Come, there is something I need to show you first."

Once again, Rose saw the time vortex, no, she was in the time vortex. The raw power of time and space was surrounding her, swirling and rotating. Billions of timelines were like loose branches caught in swift flood water, passing right in front her eyes, drowning into the deep infinite of eternity. She gasped as her own body was pushed deeper by the unseen current. The complex of the entire reality came crushing on her, make it difficult to breathe. She couldn't control but slip deeper and deeper, into the fathomless pitch that was the heart of the time, like a black hole, threatening to devour everything into the endless of time and space.

Then there was a bright spot of light, seemingly unaffected by the constant movement all around, stood there firmly like a giant rock in the middle a fast flowing river. Instinctively she reached out for it, and suddenly the crushing pressure surrounding her body was lifted. Once again, she was able to breathe with easy.

She came face to face with the Face of Boe. His ancient eyes fixed on her, almost as deep as the time vortex itself, emotionless. Then slowly, his old face transformed, regressed into one that was young, handsome, and all too familiar.

Rose covered her mouth with one hand, barely suppressed a cry.

 _Oh my God, Jack, what happened to you?_

"He was killed by a Dalek then brought back by the power of Vortex, back in the Game Station. As a result he became a fixed point in time, never able to die."

She jumped at the abrupt voice beside her, noticing for the first time Bad Wolf was there, holding her hand.

Before she could ask any question, the environment shifted again. This time, she was surrounded by many screens, each showing a different scene as it unfold right in front of her own eyes.

She saw a group of humans being herded together like animals, with hands behind their heads, fear and anguish apparent in their eyes. Slowly, they began turning into dust, vanished into thin air, like nothing had ever been there.

She saw a gruesome looking creature with a face like rotten tomato, whose lower body was entirely of Dalek making, rolled in front of the Doctor, spoke tauntingly:

 _"…_ _full transmission will dissolve every form of matter, across the entire universe, never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People, and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and atoms will become…nothing."_

"The stars were going out, and the 27 planets, they become one vast transmitter…" Rose inhaled sharply, astonished by this horrible revelation.

 _"…_ _and the wavelength will continue, breaking through the rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade, into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, the destruction of reality itself!"_

And she saw her Doctor, stranded like a caged animal, his hands clenched into fists and his jaw hard, breathing rapidly. His eyes were filled with rage, anger, and horror, yet he looked so powerless, and so alone.

"Please," She tore her eyes from the screens as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her voice cracking and pleading : "please, send me back to him. I know you can, just…let me help him, if for nothing else, just to give him a hand to hold, so that he won't have to face it alone."

The Bad Wolf looked at her emotionlessly.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked softly, gesturing two other screens.

On one screen, Martha Jones was holding a square disc, her voice firm with determination:

 _"_ _I've got the Osterhargen Key, leave the planet and its people alone, or I'll use it… Now I reckon you need the 27 planets for something, but what if it becomes 26? There's a chain of 25 nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the earth's crust, it was to be used as a final option when the human suffering was so great and so beyond hope… If I used the key, they detonate and the earth gets ripped apart."_

"But how can it be the final option? You destroy the earth, they could find another planet to make it 27. It is an option that does more harm than good!" Rose muttered, unaware of the glances from her counterpart.

On the other screen, Jack Harkness was holding something resembled a neckless, tangled in a cluster of wires. Behind him, Sarah Jane, Mickey, and Jackie stood solemnly.

 _"_ _Captain Jack Harkness calling all Dalek boys and girls. Are you receiving me?"_

Jack's signature teasing tone was able to bring a tiny smile on Rose's face, even in situations like this.

The universe may crumble, the time may end. But Captain Jack would always be Captain Jack, no matter how dire the situation might be.

 _"_ _Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off. I've got a warp star wired in the main frame. I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up."_

And taking everyone with it, her mother, her friends, and her Doctor.

Rose crumbled on her feet, unable to watch any longer.

The Bad Wolf crouched down in front of the sobbing girl, her heart went out for her. She'd hated to put her through all these, but it was necessary. Everything was set in motion, all it needed was one last push, or else everything would go straight to hell.

"It was the choice he faced on that day, the last day of the Time War." She began slowly, waiting for the girl to meet her gaze.

"It was the day when it was impossible to get it right. And if you go back there now…"

"That would become my choice, and whatever the decision I make, I will have to live with it for the rest of my life." Rose finished for her, voice surprisingly calm.

She looked up into the sky, seeing the twin suns now shining brightly in the burnt orange dome. This planet was so beautiful, it would be a shame to see it disappear. Simply thinking about it being safely hidden away would bring consolation to a lonely soul. Lost in time and space it might be, but it would be out there somewhere, and that was enough to hope for.

When she looked back down, all traces of pain and struggles were gone.

"You are going to send me back." It was not a question, but a statement.

"Are you ready to make the impossible choice?"

"No."

"Are you going to let the Daleks destroy the entire reality?"

"No."

"Then what are you going to do if I send you back?"

"I am going to find a way out."

Rose smiled, her beautify face glowing with confidence and determination.

"You told me that on the last day of the Time War, after having decided to destroy the entire planet in order to save the universe, the Doctors changed his mind."

She looked at the Wolf girl, who now reflecting her own smile.

"Something must have happened that made him realized there was another way out. If there was a way out then, there must be one now, there _has_ to be. And it's up to me to find it. Now the question is…"

She held out her hand, and the other happily took it.

"Are you coming with me?"


	3. Chapter 3: Ride in the Gathering Storm

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who**

 **A/N: OK, another Chapter as promised. Thanks to all who had followed and favoured, and particularly, reviewed. They meant a lot to me. This one is a bit of a long read, originally intended to be 1.5 chapters. However the original arrangement cut through the climax of the story so it needed to be fixed. That's it for today. Can't really do editing while I am half asleep.**

* * *

Donna was being tossed around inside the TARDIS, bumping into every odd object along the way. She tried to brace herself, clung on anything for dear life, only to be shaken away mere seconds later.

"Doctor!" She screamed in a vain attempt to seek help. But no one answered.

 _Oh, I don't want to die, not like this!_

The windows on one side the console room shattered with an explosion, sending her scrambling across, trying to avoid the flying shrapnel of glass shards. There was fire everywhere, smoke accumulated in the enclosed area, making her cough and gag for air.

And it happened, _again_. Streaks of golden white particles leaked out of the TARDIS console, absorbed by the spare hand and Rose's body. Then she heard the sound of heart beats.

 _Thump, thump, thump._

She traced the source of the sound, surprised to find it came from both the body and the hand, as if two speakers are broadcasting the same sound.

 _Thump, thump, thump._

The sound grew louder as more particles poured out, both Rose and the hand were now cocooned by the golden light.

Intrigued, she tried to touch the jar contains the hand. However, before her fingers could make contact, the jar exploded, sending her scramble backward with a startled yelp.

The hand was lying on the floor, glowing brighter than ever, fingers wiggling as if it had a life of its own.

 _Thump, thump, thump._

Then the hand vanished, transformed into a big ball of golden light. It shot up from the floor, and dived into Rose's body. She twitched, and the pace of the heart beats doubled.

 _Oh my God, she's alive!_

Donna was stunned by what was happening right in front her eyes.

Another loud explosion reminded her of the current devastation. She quickly rose to her feet, dashed to the jump seat and grabbed Rose's shoulder, shaking her rigorously.

"Rose? Rose! Can you hear me? Wake up!"

Rose's eyes fluttered open, golden light steamed from her eyes and went into Donna's.

Donna felt tingles like electric current ran though her body, making her shudder. In a haze of mind, she seemed to have seen a wolf howling to the moon. But before she could scrutinize further, everything went back to normal.

Rose sat up abruptly, looking a bit lost and disoriented.

"Donna?" She asked, the glowing in her eyes deemed to almost nonexistence.

Donna looked at her in shock, then a wide grin formed on her face.

"Oh my God, Rose, I am so happy to see you again!"

Before Rose could react, she was crushed into a tight embrace.

Despite the lack of oxygen, Rose felt her heart warmed, and her vision blurred by the moisture accumulating in her eyes, so she returned the embrace eagerly. It felt good to finally be back to her own body, and to be with her friend.

Inside her mind, Bad Wolf was grinning and winking at her teasingly.

 _Shut up._

She gave her a mental nudge.

The TARDIS made a strangled wheezing sound, as if she was screaming in agony. More explosions followed with more fire. The console room was filled with smoke that one could hardly see cross.

"My God, Rose! You must do something, I don't know what they did but it looks like they are tearing the TARDIS apart!" Donna let go of her abruptly and cried in panic.

Rose sprung to her feet, eyes glowing brightly again. She jogged to the console, quickly pressed a few buttons and flipped the dematerialization switch. The TARDIS engine made a familiar whooshing sound, then everything went quiet.

"Did we get out?" Donna asked uncertainly as she watched Rose dancing around, randomly pressing buttons and flip switches.

"Of course we did, or else both of us would have been dead." Rose raised an eye brow, revealing the glowing iris beneath.

Donna looked at her with a slight frown on her face. There was something about her that was different from before her resurrection, and it was not just her eyes glowing gold. The Rose she knew was composed, agile and quick-witted. This one, however, had something wild and feral inside her. And the way she occasionally moved, leaning slightly forward with chin lifted, swaying side by side, it reminded her of something…canine.

A cold and hard object came into contact with her palms, she caught it instinctively, and was snapped her out of her own thought momentarily. She stumbled slightly at the weight of it. Looking down, she saw a big, red, threatening…fire extinguisher, and a grinning Rose walking pass, holding an identical object.

"Well then, nobody knows we are here, if we keep quiet, it should give us enough time to get some repair work done. Let's start by putting out the fire."

At that, she turned the fire extinguisher up-side-down and squeezed the handle. Donna soon followed suite, despite having a bit difficulty trying to get the hose pointing the right direction. However, many questions were circulating in her head, screaming at her and wouldn't go away. As a result, she decided to do the only thing that made sense-she was going to ask her directly.

"So what happened, Rose?" She tried to keep her voice assertive yet not too pushy. After all, she'd reckon it was not easy for anyone to recall a death event.

"Oh, nothing fancy, putting it on silent running is all. Should keep us safe from any detection." Rose said lightly, not bother stopping what she was doing.

Well, couldn't say it was totally unexpected. Either she misunderstood the question, or purposefully deflected it.

Donna suspected the latter was more than the former.

"No Rose, I am serious." She tried again, this time, more demanding than she intended to be. Although she regretted slightly after seeing Rose, with back facing her, obviously tensed.

"When you came back, something about you changed. The way you talk, the way you move, and the way your eyes are glowing. It was just… not like you, so what is it, what happened while you were…gone?"

Rose turned around to face her, her iris were her usual brown.

"I am still me, only a little more." She said soberly, eyes slowly started to light up.

"I am the Bad Wolf, I create myself. I split my own consciousness to become Rose Tyler, and now I am whole."

The double echoing in her voice was cold and detached. The sound alone made Donna shiver, she stepped back involuntarily.

"You were the one who warned us in Shan Shen, the Doctor said… you were the end of the world!"

"I am the beginning, I am the end. I see every atom that forms every being, things that were, things that are, things that will ever be." The glow deemed and her gaze softened as she re-focused on Donna, "and from what I can see, all timelines are converging, right here, right now."

"So, you are like, some kind of Time Goddess?" Donna, who looked completely in awe, asked nervously.

Rose/Bad Wolf stared at her intently for a while, then gave her a cheeky smile and waved dismissively.

"Nah, I am just a little wolf living in the moment."

Donna blinked rapidly for a couple of times, then brows furrowed as a million new questions formed in her head. She thought she'd seen many weird things travelling with the Doctor. But this, this is by far the weirdest and most bizarre situation she'd ever encountered.

"But what about that hand? I saw it fade into light and whoosh, it was absorbed by your body. What about the particles from the centre of the TARDIS? Were they huon particles, aren't they supposed to kill you?"

Rose scratched the back of her head as the questions were shooting at her like a machine gun. If Donna was anything, she was persistent, and would not give up until she was satisfied with an answer.

With a long sigh, she was to searching for words in her mind so that she could explain the concept as humanly understandable as possible.

"So when my consciousness was pulled out of the body, the body was dead, decomposition kicks in almost immediately. It wasn't too long before the body became unsusceptible to life. If the consciousness was being forced into such body, then it would have become a walking corpse instead of a living person, like a zombie.

"The specimen of a Time Lord, however, was alive, even though it was cut off from the host body. That was how Jack was able to use it as a Doctor detector. That hand, in particular, was cut off during the first 15 hours of regeneration. That did not only enable the host body to grow a new one, but also left enough residual energy in the tissue that enables it to mend with different DNAs. As a result, the living cells from the hand was able to replace and repair the damaged cells from the body due to decomposition, with the help of the artron energy from the TARDIS, the entire body was rebooted so that it was susceptible to life again.

"But that was not it. It was like a broken computer, you repaired it, hooked it up to the power source, but for it to start, you still need to press the 'on' button. Because the life form was still largely human, it needed another human life form to give it a kick start. So when you touched me, you effectively pressed the 'on' button of my system, and here I am, back from the dead."

Rose gave her a light-hearted smile, in hoping for lightening the mood. However Donna simply looked at her with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows. Rose groaned internally.

 _This is going to be harder than I had anticipated._

"So basically it's like organ transplant. But instead of using compatible organs to replace the bad ones, you used one from a completely different species and somehow extrapolated its gene and mended with yours, and become part of your body." Donna spoke suddenly.

"Yeah, something like that." Rose was surprised by this rather precise analysis.

Donna face was all scrunched together as she threw both hands in the hair.

"You. Are. Bonkers. You know that? What does that make you? Part Time Lord, or Time Lady for that matter, and part human?"

She said that in such a Donna-like way that made Rose relax instantly, knowing she had probably accepted the explanation.

"Well, that sounds pretty bonkers to me. Although," she twisted her body several times, as if feeling something inside, "I still only got one heart. Could be worse, I suppose, better than being dead, or being a walking dead."

Donna placed a hand gently on her shoulder, the joking in her eyes faded, replaced by genuine concern.

"Are you going to be OK with that? I mean, being not completely human?"

Rose sighed. Truth be told, she had not thought it through yet. And she knew for a fact that it would cause some complication later on. However, this is not the time or the place for it, not when you have an empire of Daleks trying to destroy the universe.

"I don't know, Donna, I really don't know. I haven't got a chance to think about what it means, what it will do. But right now, we have more urgent matters to attend to. So whatever the case might be, it is the consequences of coming back, I'll have to live with it."

Donna nodded sympathetically, and let her go about doing things around the TARDIS while she watched silently, only provided occasional assistance as demanded.

"So, what happened when I was, you know, absent?" Rose asked as she wrapped up the repair, and started working on the monitor on the console, typing rapidly.

Donna couldn't help but notice how much she and the Doctor had become alike, especially when they are concentrating on something. Except perhaps the eye part, while the Doctor tended to wear brainy specs, Rose's eyes just glowed brighter every time she does things Doctor-like.

Her mind was wondering off again until Rose shot her an inquisitive look. Sheepishly, she began filling her in about how they had been taken to a spaceship called the Crucible, how she was distracted by the particles leaking out of the TARDIS and got trapped inside, and how the TARDIS seemed to be tossed down somewhere to be destroyed.

As she was talking, Rose's mind seemed to have wondered elsewhere. She was looking at a distance with a deep frown, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"Oi, Rose! Are you listening?" Donna snapped her figures, causing Rose to look back with a start. But she quickly gathered herself.

"Hmm, yes, and it's all making sense now. All time and space converging back to you, that's how it all started."

"But why me?

"Because you are special." Rose said matter-of-factly without even bothering to look at her.

"Oh don't be daft." Donna scoffed. "There is nothing special about me, a temp from Chiswick, there are hundreds of them out there."

"Yeah, but only one was around when I needed a jump start coming back from death." Rose responded absent-mindedly.

"So is that how _special_ I am, then? Just another human being happened to be in the right place at the right time?" She asked sarcastically.

Rose was taken aback by the sudden edge of anger in her voice. She looked up and saw Donna quickly looked away, thoroughly mortified.

Rose's eyes grew wide as she realized the truth behind Donna's constant denial. It wasn't of modesty but of humility, because she truly believed that she was inferior not only compared to the Doctor, but also to all the other companions who had travelled with him. This constant self-belittling made any praise sound like mocking or insult in her ears, especially when it was presented casually.

"Oh, Donna, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"That's OK, Rose, I am quite gotten used to it. You know, when you are travelling with the Doctor, he does it all the time." Donna sniffed, masked the emotions with a fake smile that did not reach her eyes.

"And he meant it every single time." Rose stated firmly.

"Look, Donna," She continued before Donna had a chance to protest. "The Doctor wouldn't just praise someone to make her feel good, let alone mocking her to just make her feel bad. God, he was too alien to be aware of human emotions most of the time. He would only say something he believed was true, even if it may appeared to be too straightforward to the point of being rude. After all, rude and not ginger is what he is." Rose smiled tenderly at the thought of it.

"I was not apologizing for what I said, because I meant every single word of it. I am sorry because you wouldn't believe it. You see Donna, you were never just another human being. You one _the_ human being, at _the_ right time, in _the_ right place. There had never been anyone else."

"Well, you wouldn't know that, Captain Jack could have done it." Donna objected, though much less certain and definitely much less defensive.

Rose shook her head slightly. Jack wouldn't be able to do it, simply because…well, that was a whole new set of complication right there.

"Trust me Donna, if anyone should know, it would be me. Remember? Everything that was, everything that is, and everything that ever will be?" Rose was satisfied to see Donna chuckled lightly, a grin spread on her own face.

"I see through time and space, and occasionally do a little jiggery-pokery here and there. But whatever I do the timelines always ripple back and converging on you. It was no coincidence you were there to stop the Doctor when he needed someone to stop him, and it was no coincidence you were here when I needed a human being to bring me back to life. Although," She glanced at rubbles resulted from earlier damages, "that was never intended to happen, looks like time had begun to compensate." Her face alarmed at that discovery, causing her to be silent for a moment.

"Compensate for what?" Donna asked hesitantly, unsure of the sudden seriousness appeared on Rose's face.

Rose waved at her dismissively.

"The point it, Donna, that you had been the only one who was there able to do what needed to be done. Without you, everything would simply go down an entirely different path. And the pattern is not completed yet, something else is come, something big."

She gazed at Donna warmly with encouragement.

"Are you ready for it?"

Donna's mouth opened and closed several times rapidly, as if in any second she would go back to the good old argument of how unimportant she should have been.

Finally she let out a big exhale, shoulders squared, confidence lit up her face.

"Bugger that, once for a change, let me do something important."

Rose gave her a huge grin with the tip of her tongue stuck between her teeth. Then she kicked up a lever with exaggerated motion.

"Ready? Maximum power. _Allons-y_!"

* * *

The Doctor shuddered at the venomous words of Davros. He knew very well what tricks the devil was trying to play, but he had no way to protect himself from being affected. His old enemy knew him all too well, so much so he knew exactly what he was afraid of, what he was trying to run away from.

He told him the truth, and truth hurt.

The pain was almost physical. He felt as if his hearts had been ripped out of his chest while still beating, it hurt so much that it was almost suffocating. Meanwhile, the voices in his head all screaming, yelling of one same thing, that he had deserved it.

That, by itself, was the truth.

He had had many companions for hundreds of years, ordinary, innocent people who were living their ordinary, innocent lives, because he knew they would less the loneliness of his exile and provide the companionship he had been longing for. He'd lured them with his blue box that could travel in time and space; he'd tore them away from their families, friends, and led them to a life on the run; he'd won them over with his charm and wit, showed them the stars and wonders of the universe.

But he had never dared to show them his true self, the broken old soul, the monster that butchered billions, and the coward was running and never dare to look back. Fooled by the heroic exterior he masked himself with, his companions looked up to him, admired him, worshiped him, and some even _loved_ him. And he had enjoyed the spontaneous affections they displayed thoroughly, despite knowing full well that he had deserved absolutely none of it. So he chose to be quiet, keeping them at arm length while watching them putting up their lives to defend and help him.

Davros might have created a new Dalek race with his own flesh and taught them to hate and kill, but he had turned ordinary people into weapons by manipulating their affections. His was a million times worse.

He looked at his former companions wearily as they were thrown to the ground gracelessly by a rough transmat teleport. How much better would their lives be without him? Martha would have become a doctor, a real, proper doctor who saves lives instead of threatening to destroy the earth; Sarah Jane would have had a big happy family, surrounded by children and grandchildren, instead of wasting precious youth waiting on some bloke who would never return; Mickey would have been holding a power tool instead of a giant gun; Jack would have still been a time agent, not stuck in this deathless form and became an oddity of time; Donna would still be alive, worrying about getting stuck in the traffic instead of perishing inside TARDIS; and Jackie would have been happy and well with her husband pete in the parallel universe and their daughter…

 _Rose._

The mere thought of her ripped a new hole in his bleeding hearts. Rose, his precious girl, who would wonder off on her own and get herself in trouble whenever ordered _not_ to do so, yet would always come back for him whenever he tried to send her away to safety. And he loved her for that. Gosh, he loved _her_. He never told her so, however, afraid of making it harder when he would inevitably lose her. Lose her he did, twice in a row. Now he would never get the chance to say it ever.

The anguish and grief of losing her again was so beyond the description of words that almost brought him down to his knees that very instant. But he held on. He had lost too much, and he will not let the Dalek take any more of them.

 _No more!_

When Davros demanded surrender, he concurred quickly.

They all stared at him with surprise and vague disdain, but he pleaded silently, knowing too well that any sign of struggle would be perceived as resistance and ultimately resulting extermination.

Jackie was the first one snapped into action, her survival instinct was too strong. Jack quickly followed suite, being too smart to fight a losing battle. One by one they all did, Mickey being last, and gave the Daleks a defiant scowl.

He watched them being held up in holding cells, trapped and powerless, just like him.

"The final prophecy is in place, the Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses…Waite, not all of them. Too bad the blonde girl cannot make it. She doesn't know what she is missing." Davros stared at the Doctor with evil provocation.

"Leave her out of this, Davros." The Doctor hissed darkly through his clenched teeth, rage brewing behind his dark eyes.

"Oh… the infamous oncoming storm, properly contained, how interesting." The Dalek creator giggled devilishly, thoroughly enjoyed the sight of a tormented Time Lord.

"What does he mean, Doctor? Where is Rose? What happened to her?" Jackie demanded.

The Doctor's rapid breath caught up for a few seconds. Slowly he let it out, and bowed his head down low, unable to meet Jackie's accusing gaze.

 _I am sorry Jackie, I have failed her. I am so, so sorry._

The pain and the sorrow had not escaped Jackie's eyes, she felt her heart sank.

"Supreme Dalek, the time has come." Satisfied with the power of his words, Davros had turned back to his Dalek master with mad eagerness.

"Now, detonate the reality bomb!" He shrieked.

 _"universal reality detonation in 200 rells."_

The command of the Supreme Dalek was echoed by the countdown of a cold robotic voice

"Stop it, Davros! This is your one chance, or I'll make you stop." The Doctor said gravely. But the answer he received was the maniacal laughter from a completely insane Davros.

"And just _how_ are you going to stop me, Doctor? Don't you see, there is _nothing_ you can do now. NOTHING can stop the detonation! NOTHING, and NO ONE!"

That was when they all heard it, above the voice of despair and desolation, came the sound of hope.

The TARDIS wheezed and whooshed as it materialized inside the vault of the Crucible.

* * *

Jack was utilizing every ounce of his self-control to maintain his cool, but only to find it faltering ever so slightly as the seconds ticked by. He grew increasingly distressed.

Over the years he had become accustomed to assume leadership whenever the Doctor was otherwise indisposed, emotionally or physically, or both.

He knew the Doctor was devastated when Rose had died right in front of him. But right now, he seemed to be much worse, he was literally falling apart. The only thing that might have held him together was ironically the holding cell. Obviously that Davros there had worked on him quite thoroughly.

The Doctor was a man extremely hard to break, to see him like this was…disheartening to say the least.

He glanced around, weighing options. A spaceship full of Daleks and a hybrid of a mad scientist; a broken Doctor, a handful equally distressed former companions, and a universe destroyed in 150 seconds, 149 now.

 _Oh, can the future get more glamorous?_

Frankly, the destruction of the universe was least of his concern. He was not the Doctor, he would not take the burden of the entire cosmos on his shoulder. Years of Torchwood had taught him to take a self-preservative approach in times of crises. His primary concern, therefore, was what would come to them, _after_ they had stood witness of the universe's destruction.

The Crucible would be exempted from the reality bomb, for obvious reasons. But he doubt Davros would kill them immediately afterwards. He would kill them eventually, but not before he had had his satisfaction. And given his sadistic psychopathic nature, the mere thought of it was enough to make him flinch.

He had thought of everything, from talking the Daleks into forming an (false) ally, to provoking them enough so that they can shoot him dead one more time. He reckoned they'd have to let him out of the holding cell at some point, before or after the execution. They would have to get rid of the body sooner or later. At this point, climbing two miles of ventilation shaft did not seem to be such a bad idea.

Seeing the TARDIS once more, however, was not a possibility he considered in existence, until the first wheezing sound hit his ear drums. His first thought, however, was that the Doctor had planned it all along, but kept them all in the dark to retain the element of surprise. But that idea was quickly scrapped as he saw the Doctor was just as dumbfounded as everyone else. Then he thought it might be Donna, who, hiding behind all those hysteria and clumsiness, was in fact some stuff of the legend.

He had never expected to see Rose's petit figure stood inf the doorway, with bearings like a veteran warrior, emerged from the bright interior light of the TARDIS.

"Brilliant." Was all he could manage.


	4. Chapter 4: Goddess of Time

**Disclaimer: I don't own DW, wish I did though.**

* * *

The instant Rose stepped out of the door of the TARDIS, she was showered with a wide range of gazes, from wholehearted admiring to downright hateful. If looks had power, she was as likely to be blessed as to be damned.

She paused briefly in front of Jackie. The glowing in her eyes diminished to reveal the nature colour.

"Mom, I told you not to." Her words were scolding, but her voice was warm.

"Well, I couldn't just leave you." Jackie said unrepentantly.

"Mind you, that rotten prune there said you were dead." She tried to make it sound sarcastic, but the hint of moisture in the corner of her eyes betrayed her true emotion.

"Well, he lied, didn't he." Rose gave her an assuring smile.

Her eyes then traced to the Doctor, who was adorably stunned. She beamed a bright smile and instinctively started walking towards him.

She was barely two steps into the motion when she saw the Doctor's eyes grew hug and let out a terrified scream:

"No, DON'T!"

Then she felt a wave of high voltage electricity shot right in the middle of her chest, almost sending her heart into spasm. She was thrown in the air and landed hard on her back, slighting a few feet backwards.

 _Oh bloody hell!_

In a blur of vision, she saw Davros pointing a finger at her with an evil grin.

"Activate holding cell." He commanded.

An enclosed circle of energy field surrounded her. Rose pushed at it with resentment, only to find it turning pale blue at the impact, and an unpleasant sting shot through her hand and made her arm go numb.

"Ah, love, such an overrated emotion, makes you stupid and vulnerable." Davros rolled over to a stopped in front of Rose.

"Oh, you must be the legendary Rose Tyler, murderer of the Dalek emperor." He gave her a molesting look that made her skin cover in goose bumps and her stomach churn.

"You look more delicious than I have imagined," he gave the Doctor, who now glowered at him with bloodshot eyes, a vicious grin, "perhaps we could spend some quality time together after this is all over."

The Doctor hissed loudly, putting both hands firmly on the invisible wall of the holding cell, face hard and dangerous.

The wall glowed in pale blue, eventually solidified into a florescent white. It gave a buzzing sound of an electrical spark, then the Doctor screamed in pain.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted out, trying to move towards him but confined by her own cell.

"Oh, don't bother, Doctor." Davrous laughed maliciously at the Doctor who was tucking his hands tightly against his chest, scowling furiously.

"This is a reactive field designed specifically for Time Lords. The more power you use to break it, the more it will react against yourself.

"And look at you now, the last of the Time Lords. All contained, powerless and pathetic. Doctor, you are pathetic just like your warriors." Davros's voice grew increasingly taunting with each words.

"Stand witness, Time Lord. Stand witness, humans, your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and, oh, the end of the universe has come." He finished in false innocence.

Everyone was watching the screen projection in silent horror and despair as the final countdown began.

 _Detonation in 20 rells. 19, 18, 17…_

"Oh I bet the differ."

The vault suddenly became much brighter as Rose stood in the middle of it, blazed in golden light. Her eyes were furious and wild, while her face was placid and divine.

"No! Rose! You can't! If you use that power, you will burn!" The Doctor shouted urgently.

"But I have to, Doctor. Don't you see, this is our only choice now. And this is exactly what you would have done."

With that, she gave him a long cherished look before drawing her eyes back into the distant space. The light flared like flames. The power field of the holding cell turned from faint blue to fluorescent white, then to glittering gold, and finally vanished like dusts.

With the restriction out of the way, Rose was radiating bright as a sun. Everyone was shielding their eyes in the light, and Davros and Daleks backed away almost immediately, stunned and scared.

Not too far away, the lunatic Dalek Caan shrieked in utmost fear:

"IT WAS HER! IT WAS HER! SHE PULLED CAAN INTO THE TIME WAR! SHE POURED TIME VORTEX INTO CAAN! THE GODDESS OF TIME! THE BIG BAD WOLF! THE BRIGHT, SHINY MOMENT…"

In the background, the countdown continued.

 _…_ _10, 9, 8, 7…_

The Doctor watched Rose anxiously. The scene unfolding right in front his eyes gave him an odd sense of déjà vu. It was like Game Station all over again, yet, she seemed to be much more in control this time. But it was more than that. Something was tugging his memories from way back, buried deep in his mind that could not, or would not, resurface.

 _How is that even possible?_

But again, this was Rose. Her very existence was to defy the existence of impossibilities. Like he had said before, if there was one thing he had ever believed, it was her. And quite frankly, she _was_ their only hope now.

He watched her intently. So far, she had neither turned anything into dust (other than the holding cell) nor had brought any dead back to life. Instead, she eyes were closed, and her face was an expression of serenity. He did not know if it was good or bad, but he trusted her. Rest assured, he'd do anything to save her if the situation ever required. He was not losing her again, not once more.

She said he would do exactly the same, she was wrong. He could never choose the universe over her. In fact, of all the terrible, horrible things he'd done, he would have done them all again just to keep her safe, even if she would ran away from him afterwards.

 _I want you to be safe, Rose. Let the rest of the universe be damned._

The countdown continued like echoes from the hell, timing the ultimate destruction.

 _…_ _4, 3, 2, 1._

And at that exact moment, everything went offline while the alarms of the Crucible blared through the seemingly still air. Aliens and humans alike froze in their place and stared at each other in silent incomprehension.

"And…closing all Z-neutrino relay loops, using an internalized synchronous backfeed reversal loop-that button there." said an over excited voice followed by an equally over excited face of one Donna Noble.

As if on cue, the light radiated from Rose disappeared suddenly. She took in a sharp gasp and collapsed onto the floor, barely supporting her weight with both arms and panting rapidly.

 _That was cutting awfully close._

She studied her hands thoughtfully, a vague shadow of sadness flashed in her eyes but vanished quickly before anyone could possibly see it.

At that point, the entire Crucible had gone into chaos with everybody trying to shout over everybody else.

"System in shutdown!"  
"Detonation negative!"  
"Explain! Explain!"  
"Shiny, shiny moment…"  
"Rose? Are you all right?"  
"Donna, what are you doing? You can't even change a plug!"  
"You wanna bet, Time boy?"

Rose felt her head was going to explode. The burning sensation combined with the singing in the back of her head was all too familiar, and her heart beat had gone viral.

 _No, not yet, not now!_

She closed her eyes, shifted her focus internal and breathed in deeply. After a brief moment, her head cooled down and heartbeat returned to normal. Everything seemed to be fine apart from feeling exhausted.

That was when she heard a panicked Time Lord calling out her name eagerly.

With the muscles on her neck and back worked twice as hard, she lifted her head and managed a small smile.

"I'm all right, Doctor. Just feeling a bit tired." She tried to give him a reassuring wave, but her body faltered as soon as the supporting hands reduced from two to one.

The worried look on the Doctor's face deepened.

Her next comforting words were being cut short by Davros grave voice

"You will suffer for this."

Rose felt her heart leaped to her throat once she realized he was pointing at Donna with a craw like finger.

To her surprise, the electrical wave that presumably was what hit her earlier, travelled inward along his body, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Oooooh!" Donna's voice was full of mocking innocence.

"Bioelectric dampening field with a retrogressive arc inversion."

"Bravo, Donna! Bravo!" Rose laughed out loud as she breathed in relief.

"The female is weak! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Two Daleks were moving towards her with their weapons raised and ready. Instinctively Rose raised her hand, only to lower it down as she realized there was no way she could wield the power to block the Dalek beam.

 _Shot by Daleks twice in a day? I should go buy myself a lottery ticket!_

Suddenly the Daleks stopped dead in their tracks, their eye stocks dropped down limply, and their weapons started contracting and rotating with a buzzing sound as if two electronic toys had run out of battery.

Rose glanced at Donna with one eyebrow raised.

"Macrotransmission of a K-Filter Wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix." Donna was talking a mile a minute, flashing Rose a wicked grin. The latter returned with a knowing smile.

The Doctor's eyes shifted rapidly between the two women, completely bewildered.

"But…How did you work that out?"

"The Bad Wolf consciousness." Rose said while shifting herself into a more comfortable sitting position, still too weak to stand up, "with knowledge close to a Time Lord, and tripled brain function with our minds connected together, running way over the normal capacity ." She gestured between Donna and herself, stated proudly.

"The two of you are sharing the same _mind?"_ Jack exclaimed incredulously, earning him dirty looks from both ladies.

"No, you dumbo!" Donna scolded. "Our minds are connected like three Bluetooth devices that allowing us to share knowledge and performing calculations together. But our memories and thought processes are independent from each other unless we allow them to transmit."

"Oh, that's good." Jack swallowed hard, " 'cause I really can't tell you what I am thinking right now."

Rose rolled her eyes while Donna sighed in exasperation. But she quickly resumed her task in hand, clicking buttons and turning nobs.

"And…Spin!" She said with a chirpy tone.

All Daleks were suddenly started spinning like vertical roller pins, screaming for help helplessly, bumping and knocking at each other, even Davros was not exempted in the crossfire.

"Alright, ginger lady, I am glad to see you having fun." Jack shouted over the comical sight. "But it would be great if you could let us out first."

"Oi, patient, soldier boy!" Donna shouted back, but her fingers never stopped typing. "And, deactivate holding cells."

With a light buzz, all energy field of the holding cells were lifted. The Doctor was the first to move. He immediately dashed to Rose's side and pulled her back on her feet.

"Are you all right?" His voice sounded like spring breeze, so warm, so gentle, and absolutely sweet to hear. He lifted one of her arms over his shoulders, while kept one of his securely around her waist, steadied her against him.

"Yup, I'm fine, a bit tired was all." Rose replied light heartedly. However it might have sounded more convincing had she not leaning heavily against the Doctor's strong body.

Before he could ask further, Donna called out for him.

"Oi, skinny boy in suits, don't just stand there, come'n give me a hand."

The Doctor opened his mouth as if to protest, but Rose squeezed his hand gently.

"She's right, you should go help her. I'll be fine." To prove her point, she pushed herself away from him and planted firmly on her own two feet.

The Doctor frowned, obviously unconvinced. But he knew there was more pressing matters to sort out. He would give Rose a thorough check up once they get everyone safely back inside the TARDIS, back on earth, with earth back to its own place.

Reluctantly, he let go of her, but kept his support until she was fully steady, then jogged off to join Donna at the control.

Rose stumbled as soon as the Doctor had left her side, but was immediately caught by a pair of familiar hands.

"Here we go, sweetheart. I've gotcha."

Rose felt her heart swelled with love, yet at the same time riddled with guilt. Her good old mom, risking being trapped in a completely strange universe, followed her to the end of the world. But even she must admit how comforting it was to have her around, even in a time so bleak like this.

"Thank you, mom. And…I am sorry." She said sincerely.

Jackie looked at her daughter, fascinated yet again by how much she had grown up, matured into a fierce young woman she could never be more proud of. But in her heart, she was still the baby girl who would cry in her arms when she was upset about something. She would always be there, ready to protect her, to keep her away from all harm. That was why despite with a young son in her care, she still followed her girl, just so that she could protect her, one last time.

When the evil Davros approached, she instinctively pulled Rose behind her back. But someone beat her to it. Mickey, who was holding a gun almost as big as him, pointing at Davros' shrunken head threateningly.

"Just stay where you are, mister."

All children had grown up, it was a parent job to let them go, live their lives to the fullest potential, no matter how difficult it might be.

Rose felt a surge of energy rushed from her gut, burning her heart and making her feel queasy. The Bad Wolf was pondering in the back of her mind, urging that she would not hold the link for much too long. She glanced at Donna, who seemed to be enjoying her new found wisdom, with Doctor dancing around the control doing whatever. She knew she had to help them speed things up. Every minute of prolonged exposure to this foreign consciousness may cause vital damage beyond repair, and she would not want it happen.

Letting go of her mom, she stumbled over to the control and joined the duo. Upon seeing her, the Doctor gave her a cheeky grin while Donna winked at her playfully.

"So…where are we?" she kept her tone light and cheery.

"Oh, we are in the final phase of sending every planet home." Donna's speech was faster than ever, causing a frown to seize Rose's face.

"OK, Megatron activated, ready?" The Doctor chirped, looking at the two ladies with twinkles of excitement in his eyes.

"And reverse!" Donna commanded. On her mark, all three of them pulled levers out simultaneously.

"Off you go, clom!".

"Back home, Adipose 3!"

"Shallacatop, Pyrovillia, and the lost moon of poosh-Sorted! Ha!"

"Oh, we need more power." The Doctor remarked hastily, and immediately began to sonic bits and pieces together, while Rose automatically began to sort and peel a variety of wires bare for him. They worked together in silent synchrony.

"Aw…look at those two." Martha murmured adoringly with the slightest envy. She had long accepted the fact that the Doctor held Rose in a special place in his heart, she now understood why.

"Yeah, they've always been like that." Mickey walked up to her, his gun rested on one shoulder as now Jack had taken his place guarding Davros.

"You knew them for a long time?" Martha asked curiously.

"Oh, Rose and I grew up together on the same Estate. At some point I thought we had something, until that bloke came along. Mind you, he wasn't even that pretty back then, with all leathers and broodiness and big ears." Mickey described with a flapping gesture on both side of his head, causing Martha to giggle.

"Oi, I can hear you, Mickey!" the Doctor shouted over his shoulder. Rose made a face to Mickey and Martha, all the while with both hands working nonstop.

Meanwhile, Davros, who had been kept securely at the gun point of one Captain Jack Harkness, had gotten fed up by being ignored. So he turned to the least harmful creature in the vault and scolded at him.

"But you promised me, Dalek Caan. Why did you not foresee this?"

Dalek Caan only laughed lunatically.

"Wouldn't bet on that, mate." Rose answered with a wicked grin, causing the Doctor to stare at her thoughtfully for a long moment.

"This would always have happened. I only helped, my Goddess of Time."

Everyone is glaring at Rose, who only shrugged.

 _I am going to have a hell of time explaining this_.

"Heads up!" Jack shouted alarmingly as the Supreme Dalek descended into the Vault.

The Doctor paused for less than a second at the initial shock, but quickly snapped back to work in lightning speed, with Rose delivering everything he needed into his hand before he even asked for it.

"You have betrayed us, Davros…The vault will be purged, you all will be exterminated!"

A laser beam hit the Megatron barely an inch away from the Doctor's hands. The explosion threw him backwards on the floor.

"Doctor!" Rose rushed over to his side, pulling him up, ignoring the death scream of the Supreme Dalek behind her.

"Are you all right?" She asked, concerns apparent in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The Doctor replied absently, "but _arrrrrrgh_ we've lost the Megatron! There was only one planet left!"

He ran over to the machine and checked several readings and chuckled sarcastically.

"Guess which one."

Rose almost rolled her eyes.

 _Good old Earth, wonder why we didn't think about sending that one back first._

"But we can use the TARDIS!" Rose reminded, eyeing the Doctor with excitement.

"I'll get it started, you stay here finishing up the settings." She was off immediately, dashing towards the blue box before she could get a reply.

Once inside the TARDIS, Rose closed the door tight shut and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

 _How long do we have?_

 _Not much longer, you must hurry, I'll try my best._

Rose sprung off, rushed to the console and started flipping and pressing buttons expertly.

Then she heard a series of explosions loud enough to make the entire Crucible rumble.

She rushed outside, only to see the Daleks were being blown off, one by one by one, with the Doctor standing in the middle of all, with icy cold gaze reflecting the Daleks burning on fire. And Donna was looking at him with astonishment and horror.

 _The rage of a Time Lord_.

"Donna, get everyone inside the TARDIS, now." Rose commanded.

Donna shifted her eyes between Rose and the Doctor a few times, before dashing off and ushering everyone back into the ship.

"Doctor?" Rose called out carefully.

The Doctor spun around, as if startled. Upon seeing her, his icy gazed broke into pain and shame.

"I'm sorry Rose. But I gotta do it. With or without the reality bomb, this Dalek empire is big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've got to be stopped!" His voice was on the edge of broken after the last word.

Rose's heart went out for him. This was the life of his, deciding what needs to be done for the greater good, only to let the consequences haunting him for the rest of his existence.

"I know. And I'm sorry. But this time, you don't have to face it alone."

She walked over, took his hand and interlaced their fingers together firmly, much to his surprise. They stood there, hand-in-hand, silently watching the world surrounding them burned into crumble.

"Come on, we've got an earth to tow, the TARDIS is ready, people are waiting." She tucked him lightly.

He followed her lead obediently, but was hauled to a stop by Davros' vehement voice.

"Never forget, Doctor, You did this! You and that precious little girl of yours! I name you, forever, _you are the destroyers of the worlds!_ "

That was the last thing for him before he was devoured by the flame.

"One will still die." Said Dalek Caan with his last breath. His single eye looked directly into Rose's.

"Come on." Rose half dragged the Doctor into the TARDIS, leaving a series of explosions behind.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks again to all who had followed, favoured and reviewed. Keep them coming, and you will keep me motivated. It may worth mentioning that this fic is the first of the three AU stories I plan to write between now and Christmas. The story arc of Bad Wolf would expand throughout all three stories. Therefore, if in the end you feel there are lose ends untied or questions unanswered, well, it was intentionally done that way. If you enjoyed this story, you may want to follow me as an author for any upcoming stories. I will probably throw in a few one shots here and there in between big stories. Those were things came to me while working on the main stories that actually don't fit. Hope you continue enjoying the story. Cheers!**


	5. Chapter 5: Farewell

**Disclaimer: I don't own DW, and I can't tell you how much I have wished otherwise.**

* * *

By the time they entered the TARDIS, everyone was standing around the console, looking at them, waiting quietly for instructions.

Rose noticed Donna flinched slightly at the sight of the Doctor, then quickly looked away. She quietly inserted herself to the place beside Donna and gave her a comforting smile. The latter forced out an upward curl on the lips in reply.

"And…Off we go!" The Doctor, however, oblivious to the slight abnormality, bounced to the console with his usual, and somewhat pretentious, excitement and began to give instructions a mile a minute.

With the help of Torchwood and Sarah Jane's super computer, Mr. Smith, along with K9, they were able to "tow" the Earth back to its usual place with the TARDIS.

Once again, the world was saved.

Everyone in the TARDIS were cheering with laughter and tears of joy, jumping up and down, clapping with excitement and hugging whoever stood next.

That was when Rose started feeling something strange happening inside of her. But before she could figure it out, a cold, sweaty hand grabbed hers.

"Rose?" Donna whispered, her voice shaking and eyes unfocused. A sheen of golden particles poised over her iris.

"M-my head f-feels fu-fu-funny." She said almost incoherently.

 _Oh, no!_

At that exact moment, Rose felt a surge of power pulsed from her gut to her heart, throwing her body backward. She heard a top-of-the-pitch scream. The last thing she saw was the Doctor rushing over, before blacking out completely.

* * *

Rose felt she was being thrown into a bubble of nowhere and nothingness. Surrounding her was the endless darkness. She was standing upright, but even the ground under her feet did not feel solid. The only source of light was her identical twin collapsed a few feet away, glowing, no, _burning_ furiously in golden light.

"There, I've got you." She bent down to hold Bad Wolf's body, feeling the heat radiating from her. The temperature had become so high that it was almost uncomfortable to touch, and still rising. With every degree of increase, the Wolf's body became slightly more transparent.

"Oh God, what's happening to you?"

The Bad Wolf smile weakly, her breath had become increasingly ragged.

"I-I have been manipulating time an-and the vortex for ages now, Rose Tyler." She paused slightly, eyes squeezed shut as she let out a soft whimper, as if in pain.

"N-no one can do that wit-without consequences. The Vortex…is burning me up. It has its own defense mechanism, you know, fending off anyone who tries to use its power."

"But it can be taken out of you, right? The Doctor took it out of me, I can try the same to you." Rose asked hopefully.

Bad Wolf simply shook her head slightly.

"It's too late for that. Besides, if you die, all these would become pointless. Now, listen carefully, we don't have much time left. If I don't send you back while I still can, you would be stuck here forever."

Hearing that, Rose bit her lips, silently watching the wolf girl taking in a few deep breaths.

"You must not tell the Doctor that Gallifrey was saved. He will remember eventually, but triggering that memory too early will cause a rip in time that we cannot afford to have.

"And that lady, Donna. My presence in her head had caused her brain to be on overdrive for quite some time. It was too much for human bodies to bear. So I have to erase everything about me from her memories to save her brain from burning up. She might be unconscious for a short while, and she will not remember anything from the past day or so. You must not mention anything about me, and about what happened during that time, or her head will burn and she will die."

The golden light suddenly flared up, and Rose felt her arms sizzling with pain from the rising temperature of the Bad Wolf as her body turned almost completely transparent. But she held on, all the while wrestling against the tears that were threatening to escape.

TheWolf girl looked at her tenderly, eyes shining with pride.

"Now, Rose Tyler, go back to your Doctor. He needs you, more than he is even aware. And you need him, too. You promised him forever, you can truly have it with him now…consider it a gift."

"But…but you never told me who you really are!" Rose shouted as Bad Wolf's body started fading away, tears finally rolling down her cheeks.

"I am you now," the voice seemed to come from somewhere afar, "all that was me, now lies deep in you…if ever you feel all hopes are gone, look no further than your own heart…trust yourself, and each other…" The voice trailed off as the darkness surrounding her started to crumble.

Moments later, Rose felt her consciousness was back in her own body.

The first thing she noticed was the cool touch of slightly roughed fingertips, so gentle and so soothing, tenderly stroking her hair and cheeks. She felt the Doctor's strong arm under her head. She would have thought about lying still for a moment longer just to enjoy the feel, had she not noticed the tremble behind the touch, and a few water droplets that landed on her skin.

"Looks like they stopped glowing." Someone whispered carefully, voice so low that Rose could hardly make out the words, let alone who it belonged to.

"Their vitals are stabilizing." Martha's voice was calm and professional.

"But why aren't they waking up?" That was Sarah Jane.

"Don't know, they should be soon, unless…" Martha's voice trailed off as Rose sensed the trembling seemed to have spread to the Doctor's entire body.

Her eye lids felt heavy, but she tried her best to lift them. The bright interior light hit her now sensitive eyes causing her to snap them shut momentarily with a flinch.

She felt the Doctor's body tensed. A cool hand cupped a side of her cheek and forehead, effectively shielding the light away.

"Rose?" he muttered through choked voice.

She tried again. This time, the light was no longer a problem. Her vision was a blur at first, so she blinked several times, until they focused on a very worried Time Lord with tear streaks on his face.

Her heart ached with his pain. She wanted to tell him not to worry, that she was fine, that she had come back. But all words were choked back by emotions. She watched intently into those fathomless brown eyes, lifted her own hands and rested them against his cheeks, wiped away tears from the oh so handsome face that she had longed to touch again.

She was back, he was safe, there was no more she could have asked for.

"Don't cry." She murmured, albeit tears had started welling in her own eyes.

The next thing she knew, she was pulled into a tight, almost strangling hug. Her chin pressed against his shoulder and his against hers. She ran her hands up and down along his back, and felt the tensions began to leave his muscles, before he pulled her up from the floor.

They took another short moment locked in each other's arms, savouring the mere presence of one another, then reluctantly pulled apart.

Rose had barely let go of the Doctor before being yanked away and pulled into another tight, strangling embrace, this time, by none other than a Jackie Tyler.

"Oh Sweetheart, I am so glad you are OK. I was worried sick! I was!" Jackie cried in her usual high pitch tone. Everyone started walking away to give the mother and daughter a bit more privacy.

A fresh wave of guilt rushed through Rose. Ever since she was trapped in the parallel universe with Jackie, she had been so drowned in her own loss and sorrow that she had not paid much attention to her mother's well-being. She had justified it by telling herself that while her own life was ripped away, her mother had found hers in the parallel universe. She's got her Pete, they've got a son, Tony, that there was nothing left for her.

The truth was, however, that Jackie had never loved her nor worried about her any less than the previous nineteen years when they'd only got each other. She had always made sure to spend time with her daughter during the worse time in her life. Rose could never forget the countless nights her mom held her quietly while her cried herself to sleep, nor the support and encouragement she had never failed to demonstrate when she started finding her way back to the Doctor. She remembered how her mom was able to hold her together while everything seemed to have fallen apart, quoting her own words, "try anything". And when she had finally succeeded, her mother followed her all the way to the end of the world, for none other than seeing to her safety. Oh her good old mom, one she had loved so unconditionally yet possibly never to see again after this is all over. And Rose knew for a fact, that she would miss her, every day of her life.

"I love you, mom."

Jackie sniffed loudly, then smiled as she pulled herself away. She gave her daughter a thorough examination from head to toe with affectionate eyes of a mother, and cupped her youthful cheeks with her own slightly roughed hands.

"Look at you." Her voice broke with emotions. "Sometimes, I just can't wrap my mind around what a beautiful and brave young woman you had become. I am so proud of you."

"Like mother, like daughter." Rose said as she pressed her own hands over her mothers, a fresh wave of tears rolling down her cheeks.

It was the first time Rose had noticed how much alike her and her mom had become. They had the same hair colour, same eye colour, even their hands are about the same size. On top of that, there was an independent, unbendingly fierce and occasionally reckless spirit they had shared to a T.

Jackie watched her daughter walking away .Pride and delight filled her heart. She had raised her daughter well, and Rose had become more than what all mothers would have wanted for their children. She glanced over at the man who had stolen her beautiful girl's heart. Lucky bastard had better understand what treasure he had found, or Jackie Tyler would have travelled through the void to make sure of it.

The Doctor, who currently hunched over Donna giving her a scan with his sonic screwdriver, was completely oblivious to Jackie's stare and Rose's quiet approach. His brows were furrowed into a knot. He did not like the readings from the scan, because he did not _understand_ them. All signs indicating she was fine, except that she was not, because she wouldn't wake up.

At the sight of an increasingly agitated Doctor, Martha exchanged a glance with Jack who was holding Donna in his arms. The latter, however, only shook his head and shrugged. In all honesty, the past day had been quite a roller coaster ride even for Jack Harkness, to a point that he felt his over a hundred years of age had caught up on him, making him want to lie down and snooze away.

The Doctor jumped slightly as he felt someone grabbed his hand, but relaxed the instant he noticed it was Rose. He managed to squeeze out a tight smile before returning to the scan, but Rose stopped him by pressing gently on top of the screwdriver.

"She will be alright." Her voice was soft and comforting, but the look she gave to the wary Time Lord was firm and certain.

"Her brain hosted an extraneous consciousness, causing it to go overdrive. As a result, it had retreated to its primary stage to cope with the shock. She will recover given some rest. The Bad Wolf has wiped out all memories associated with her to ensure a full recovery, although that means she would not remember that she had saved the world."

The Doctor looked at her and said nothing. His expression, however, stated that he was not at all convinced. But he let the topic drop. Knowing Rose, she wouldn't have said that unless she was sure of it. Nevertheless, he would give both of them a more thorough examination once they'd had more privacy. And he would have to ask Rose what exactly had happened during the time he and the TARDIS were separated.

But for now, she was back, and Donna was going to be well, that was all it mattered.

With a gentle squeeze on her shoulder, he went back to the TARDIS console while Jack volunteered to send Donna to her room.

The TARDIS landed in the middle of a park in a London suburb. For a short while, everyone was just standing there, taking into the fact that it had marked the official end of an amazing journey, that it was time to bid farewell.

The Doctor looked at his companions, and they all looked back at him, with eyes filled with respect, and honour, and love, something that made his hearts warm and ache at the same time.

"All right, then." He announced with his usual cheerful tone, while rubbing his eyes uneasily. "I guess this is where it ends."

His eyes swept over all his companions, landing on each face before moving on to the next.

"I just want to say that you were brilliant, and you were brilliant, and you were brilliant." He gave each of them an approving nod, which they returned with either proud or shy smile. He had meant every single word he said. They were brilliant, all of them, in their own right. And there had been no one else that he would want to go on adventures with.

But everything had its time, everything must end. They all got their own lives now, lives that he could never be part of.

He walked outside the TARDIS, taking into the now cloudy sky. It looked just like London in any other day. The birds were chirping and children were playing. It felt like the apocalypse had never happened, and would never happen again.

Inside the TARDIS, the sentiment of parting ways was brewing thick and strong. Everyone wanted to say something, but no one seemed to know where to start.

"Well, guess this is it." Sarah Jane was the first one to break the silence. "Nice seeing you all, it's been an honour. But I gotta get back to my son. He is only 14, bet he is worried sick about me." With that, she headed for the door with a skip under her feet.

Rose watched her retreating figure with a wide smile.

"Okeydoke, now it is our turn." Jack, now holding hands with Martha, walked up to Rose, who simply looked at them with an arched eye brow.

"I am so glad he finally found you." Martha put one hand on Rose's arm with a sweet and genuine smile.

"Thank you, Martha, for being there for him." She replied with the same genuineness.

"You know, Rosie, that trick you did back there." Jack looked at her with a crooked smile, "it was just, shall I say, _fantastic_!"

Rose chuckled at the horrible imitation of a northern accent. Her memory was brought back to the good old days when they were travelling together, with her first Doctor, as a trio. That had reminded her of something, so she chased after them as they were stepping outside the TARDIS.

"Jack!" She called after the pair who was now turning around. Jack gave Martha a look, who nodded understandingly and walked outside by herself.

"What, Rosie, don't want me to leave? You could have just asked." He said teasingly. Yet that familiar expression made Rose's eyes sting with heat.

"About that day…at the Game Station…" She hesitated as she saw the smile on Jack's face faltered slightly. But she gathered her courage and continued. After all they'd been through, it was the least she could do, and he deserved no less.

"I remembered what I'd done to you, and I am sorry. If there is any way I could undo what I did, I would try anything to make it happen." She looked away, unable to meet the piercing gaze from those blue eyes.

"Rose." Jack cupped her face gently and turned her head to look at him. His tone was serious, all traces of teasing had vanished.

"As I said that day, you are worth fighting for. That had not changed since then. If I could die for you, I could certainly un-die for you. There is nothing for you to be sorry for." He looked into her eyes with infinite kindness and brotherly love. He pressed a light kiss on her forehead before letting go.

"Besides, it's not all bad. Sometimes, that ability could come in quite handy." The light-heartedness of Jack Harkness had returned, making Rose feel thoroughly relieved.

After a moment, he sobered and pulled her further away from all ears.

"Rose, now that you've come back, my take is you are planning to stay?" He asked seriously.

"Well, that's the plan." She replied, suddenly felt nervous.

Jack nodded, eyeing the Doctor who was standing half hidden by the TARDIS door, talking casually to Martha.

"Good. Rose, I just want to you to remember, that man over there, he loves you, he loves you more than anything." He tilted his head to gesture at the Doctor. "When you were shot by the Dalek and presumably dead, he almost looked like he was ready to die with you without regenerating, and believe me, he almost did."

Rose looked outside the half opening TARDIS door, taking into the profile of the man she loved, that she would jump across universes to get back to.

"And you love him, that is why you came back. But you have changed." Jack paused briefly as Rose snapped back with shock. He got a sinking feeling that there might have been more complications than he had anticipated.

"I don't know what you had to go through to come back to this universe, nor do I understand what had happened to bring you back to life. But you are no longer the 19-year-old girl he once known you for, and if I can see that, so can he.

"Knowing him, he might not take this well. He might blame everything on himself, and, worst case scenario, he might try to push you away, even though it means breaking both you and his hearts. Do _not_ let him to that."

" Then what am I supposed to do?" Rose asked.

"Do what you have always done the best, be the Doctor Keeper, knocking some sense back to him when he misses the picture. If there is anyone who could ever do that, it's you." Jack smile at her encouragingly.

"And if worst come to the worst, you know where to find me. Torchwood could always use an experienced agent like you."

Rose's heart was deeply touched by his kind words. She was infinitely grateful for Jack, who had always looked out for her, ever since the first day they've met.

"Thank you Jack, for everything."

"My pleasure, Rosie." His teasing tone now back in full force. Then he took a few steps back, gave her a formal salute before heading out.

Rose took a few deep breaths to calm her quivering heart before turning around, only to find Mickey leaning against the door frame several feet back, smile at her tenderly.

"Oh, you too?" She walked over, a bit shocked by the implication of it.

"Well, babe, you know me. I only stayed there because of my old gran. Now that she'd passed away, there is nothing left for me in that universe. And you are certainly not going back, that much I know."

"So…I guess I'll see you around." Rose asked, feeling a lump in her throat.

"Well, maybe, if you ever decide to stop by on earth during my lifetime." He joked.

Rose managed a tight smile that did not reach her eyes.

"Look, Rose." Mickey put both hands on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "You and me, it's like what the movie said, our fates had always been intertwined, but never crossed. You've found the life you've always wanted, now it's time for me to find mine."

"And I wish you all the luck in the world." She replied truthfully.

After Mickey had gone, Rose returned to stand by Jackie's side.

"All gone now." The younger woman said.

"Yup, and soon, it will be only me." The older woman replied, looking intently at her daughter.

"Don't say that, you've still got Pete, and Tony."

"Yeah, but no one can replace you."

Rose fell silent. For the past many years, she had always dreamed about coming back, now that she had finally made it, she felt that saying goodbye to her old life was harder than she had anticipated.

Especially such goodbye involved her beloved mother, bother, and father she'd wished to have growing up.

At this moment, the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS, closing the doors behind him.

"There's time for one last trip." He addressed both women without making any eye contact.

"Darlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as…"

Bad Wolf Bay.

* * *

 **A/N: I just want to say you guys are amazing. You guys are just...amazing.**


	6. Chapter 6: Bad Wolf Bay

**Disclaimer: I don't own DW. Now one major scene in this chapter was inspired by another show. I will not name it here, but if you do recognize it, be mindful that I don't own that one, either. No copyright infringement intended, just thought it was fitting.**

 **A/N: So here is the other 1.5 chapters. Sorry about the delay, quite a hectic day at work. After this, there will be one more chapter and an epilogue tomorrow, and this story will end. A special thanks to a loyal guest reviewer. If you are still reading this, please accept my apologies that I did not find out until today that I need to manually approve your reviews for them to show up on the review session.**

 **Thanks everyone for your continuous support. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

* * *

Rose felt her heart leaped as the TARDIS landed with a thud. For the first time, she felt the trip was too short, too soon.

The Doctor, as usual, was the first to leave. Situations as such were too "domestic" for his taste. Deep down, he knew, although he would never admit even in his death breath, that sometimes, it was simply too sentimental for him to handle. So he did what he always had done, he ran away.

Rose and Jackie looked at each other in silence. There was so much to say, so much to be said. Yet at this moment, neither of them seemed to know where to begin.

"So…I reckon I would never see you again." Finally, Jackie broke the silence.

Rose felt her heart squeezed in pain, echoing the same feeling as the last time she said those words herself, right here, on this beach.

"You can't." She said with broken voice. "Now that the Reality Bomb never happened, the walls of the universes will close again."

"Yeah, figured as much." Jackie muttered absently, wipe tears away with her fingers quickly.

"You know, I have always pictured the day you leave home, it was never anything like this.

"I have always pictured you in a white dress, with a fine man on the other side of the red carpet, waiting for your father to hand him your hand, properly. And I kept imagining how beautiful and happy you would have been. That is not going to happen now, innit?"

Rose shook her head silently, a sad smile hanging on her tear streaked face.

"I am sorry to have disappointed you, mom, but I have made my choice. I would have never been happier than I am now. And there is no other man's hand I would rather hold."

Jackie sniffed and nodded.

"I know. I knew that since the first time you walked in together."

Then she quickly pulled her daughter into a tight hug, burying her face in her soft blond hair with muffled cry.

"You take care of yourself, you hear that. Don't do anything stupid."

"You too, mom. I love you. Tell Tony, and Pete, that I love them, forever."

"I love you, too, sweetheart. For as long as I breathe, I will miss you."

They stood there for a short while before Jackie forcefully pulled herself away and headed out.

Rose trailed not far behind, and stopped at the door.

Out on the open beach, the Doctor stood, hands in his pockets, back facing her. He seemed to have been even skinnier than she'd last seen him. Wind tousled his hair and made his trouser legs flap. But he just stood there, like a flag pole in the sand, motionless.

Jackie walked up to him from behind, caught his attention.

"Fat lot good _this_ is. Back of beyond, bloody Norway." She exclaimed exasperatedly, but quickly replaced with a gentle smile.

"I was pregnant, you remember? Had a son, a baby boy."

The Doctor's face spread into a wide grin at that revelation.

"Ah, brilliant! What'd you call him?"

"Doctor."

Rose chuckled as she saw the Doctor's face froze for a whole 10 seconds before mutter out an incredulous "really".

"No, you plum." Jackie replied with motherly tenderness. "He's called Tony."

She gave her daughter a meaningful look, before walking away with her mobile phone in hand.

"I'm gonna call your father, he's on the nursery run."

Rose slowly existed the TARDIS and stood beside the Doctor, who instinctively held out one hand for her, and she took it automatically. She was right. The hand felt bonier than she had remembered. Nevertheless, they still fitted perfectly together.

"Bad Wolf Bay, one place I wish I never have to see again in my life." She murmured.

The Doctor did not respond. His face sober and his eyes are looking far and away.

"So, how long do we have?" Rose asked, glancing at him.

"About two minutes." he answered nonchalantly.

"Well, guess we'd better get going, then."

"Rose, " the Doctor turned to look at her with serious expression, "are you sure about this? Once the decision is made, there is no coming back."

"Yes." Rose answered without slightest hesitation. "I spent all those time trying to find you. I am not going back now, not ever."

She turned and looked into his eyes with as much determination and sincerity as she could master.

"I've promised you forever, Doctor. I intend to keep it, whatever it takes."

The Doctor let out a long, resigned sigh, then raised his free hand and pointed at afar.

"Out there, beyond the sand and water, is a bright new world. You will have your family who loves you. You will excel in your career at Torchwood, your colleagues will admire and respect you. Around the block you will meet a fine young man, who would eventually ask for your hand, and you will say yes. That lucky bastard. You will have children and grandchildren, and they will love you. You will spend a happy long life, grow old together, live one day at a time. The one adventure I could never have."

He paused and looked at Rose, who looked back straight in his eyes.

"All that, you are willing to give up, for a broken old man, full of blood and anger and revenge, who had butcher billions and committed genocide." He said poignantly, "Is he really worth it?"

"Yes, he is." She said firmly, one word at a time. His figure stiffed.

Rose inhaled deeply. Fighting an empire of Daleks was easy. Reasoning with a stubbornly self-incriminating Time Lord was harder than saving the world.

"That future you just described, did you see that in my timeline?"

The Doctor hesitated a little before giving out a tiny nod.

"Then tell me this, Doctor. What do you see, if I had decided to come with you."

There was a long stretched period of silence. The Doctor simply stared into the far distance, his expression unreadable.

"Doctor?" She prompted again.

"I can't." Finally he said, running a hand over his face. "I can't tell you, because I can't see it. If you come with me… your timeline will merge with mine. And because I can't see my own timeline, I can't see yours, either."

Rose found herself unable to hide the smirk at the implication of it.

"Well, there goes the deal breaker." She smiled at him warmly, an expression he reflected back.

"It appears to me, that the broken old man needs me more than that lucky bloke around the block." She said to him with a cheeky grin. "Besides, he's got a blue box that's also travels in time. Life is more fun not knowing what's to come, _and…_ " she squeezed his hand, "it's better with two."

Before the last word hit the ground, the Doctor pulled her into a tight hug and lifted her feet off the ground, something he tended to do when his feeling was so overwhelmingly strong that there lacked a better way of expressing it.

And she responded back, clinging both hands on his shoulders, never wanting to let go.

In the background, the TARDIS whooshed once, signalling their time of departure.

Rose looked back at her mom, who seemed to be still talking on the phone.

"Shall we go say goodbye?" The Doctor asked gently. But Rose only shook her head.

"It's better this way, you know. She would have persuaded herself in believing that I had just ran off with you, again, and will return someday, with bags full of dirty laundries and a crave for her tea." She sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her free hand.

"Besides, she told you she had named her son _Doctor_ , that alone pretty much said everything."

With that, she gave her mom one last look before heading back to the TARDIS, with a pleasantly surprised Doctor in tow.

* * *

Jackie turned around at the first whooshing sound of the TARDIS engine. She watched as the blue box dematerialized and faded away, leaving nothing but a shallow dent on the wet beach sand. Her mobile dandled from her limp fingers, the screen was dark. The call had been terminated long ago, but she held on, pretended she was still on the phone, until the two of them had left.

It was not that she did not want to say goodbye. But she was afraid that if she did so, she would never be able to let go, even if she knew that would have ruined her daughter's happiness forever.

 _That's a parent's job, innit? Do what's best for your children even if it kills you to._

Since when had she accepted that alien as part of the family? She knew not. What she did know, was that the first time she saw them together, in his new body, she'd noticed something had been different. The way he looked at Rose, the way his eyes followed her everywhere, and the way his smile had become a permanent fixture on his face whenever Rose was around, said louder than any words. It reminded her of her Pete, both the ordinary one in the home universe while he was still alive, and the millionaire one she found again in the new world. And despite Rose had sworn heaven and earth that they were not "Romantically involved", she knew from the way her daughter positively _glowed_ at that man's presence, that her battle had long since lost.

She was happy for them, though, especially after seeing what Rose had to go through and put up with to get back to him. And, upon setting eyes on him after all those years, she knew immediately that it hadn't been easy for the Doctor, either. Yet it was better to not seeing her daughter again, knowing she was living a life she had always wanted, than keeping her close with her heart and soul and spirit trapped on the other side of the void.

Now that they had got back together, inside that blue box, as it should have been.

Would they have children? Would they tell their children about the family she left behind in a different universe? Would she tell them that they would love them even if they were worlds apart? She had no idea. But what Jackie Tyler would do, was to tell Tony all about his brave and beautiful sister, and the mysterious and wonderful brother-in-law he'd never met. She would tell him that they were stuffs of the legend, that they travelled among the stars, guarding and defending the universes with all their might. And she would raise him to be like her sister, brilliant and courageous, so that he could create his own legacy someday.

The current from the sea washed away the shallow dent on the sand, erasing the last sign of them ever being here. Jackie wiped away the moisture on her face with the back of her hand and started walking, towards the direction that was called home.

* * *

Once the TARDIS was in orbit, the first thing the Doctor did was taking Rose into the infirmary for a full examination. And she obeyed without much resistance.

Now she was lying on the examination bench, watching the Doctor taking swaps, hair and blood samples and put them into various equipment for analysis. It was quiet with nothing other than the occasional beeping sound of machines.

She was well aware that the Doctor kept himself busy in attempt to avoid the inevitable. And in all honesty she could not blame him, because even she did not know where and how to start. Now that she'd come back, the initial shock of reunion had passed, they were left with so many gaps that needed to be filled in before they could move on. After all, it had been two years for the Doctor and over three times as long for her. So much had changed since they last parted, and it was just not possible to simply pick up where they had left off.

At the sound of another beep the swirling machine came to a sudden stop. The Doctor stared at the monitors, hands braced on the desk, back facing her. For a long while there had been nothing but the TARDIS engine in the background. She exhaled slowly.

 _Well, it's got to start somewhere._

"Doctor, you know you will have to talk to me at some point." She said, her voice calm.

The Doctor let out a long sigh before waking over to sit on the bench, taking her hand into his and rubbing the back with his thumb gently.

"Do you know what had happened?" He asked softly.

"Yes, I absorbed your spare hand when I…came back."

"And do you know what that means?"

"It means…" She swallowed hard, looking away and took a few deep breaths before turning back to meet his gaze. "It means I am not fully human anymore."

The Doctor gave her a small nod in confirmation

"But what's it gonna do? Does it mean I can regenerate now, being part Time Lord and all that? I've still got only one heart."

"No, you can't, but…" he paused briefly, "you aren't likely going to die naturally, either."

Rose chewed on her lips as the words sink in, then her eyes grew wide with fear.

"Am I going to be like Jack? 'cause...I remember what I did to him. Is that my payback? To be like him?"

The Doctor gave her a pained look, but shook his head.

"No, you are not. It... has something to do with your exposure to the Time Vortex. Back on Gallifrey, Time Lords were exposed to the Time Vortex through the Untempered Schism, a gap in the fabric of reality from which minute amount of power of the Vortex bleeds through. Billions years of prolonged exposure combined with their unique physiology gave them the ability to regenerate. You, on the other hand, were exposed to the whole of the Time Vortex. The power was so strong that even a short period of exposure combined with the...mutation of physiology was enough to make a difference."

"And the difference is?" Rose asked warily.

"The cells of your body are now able to replenish and repair themselves at a rate beyond humanly possible, which means you will not age, any physical injuries would heal very fast, and you will be extremely resilient to cellular respiratory diseases such as cancers. You will live a long healthy life, as long as…"

"As long as I am not killed." Rose finished off for him, and he silently looked away.

"So in another word, if I am killed, I'm dead. Otherwise, I can pretty much live on as much as I want, without aging or...decay." She saw the Doctor bowed his head lower, so she attempted a light-hearted tone. "Well, that sounds like a good thing to me."

"Is it?" The Doctor responded with an almost mournful look in his eyes.

Rose felt her heart sank, but tried not to let her emotion showing too much on her face in anticipation of what's to come.

To her surprise, the Doctor grabbed both her hands and held them tightly.

"Rose, Rose, listen to me. You came back, against all odds, and I am happy, I'm more than happy, I'm overjoyed. And I need you, I _want_ you to be here with me, forever."

He paused, looking away as if organizing his words. Rose waited patiently.

"But at what cost, though?"

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, voice began to choke up.

"You've changed, Rose, and I don't just mean biologically." His eyes were filled with heartbreaking pain and unfathomable guilt.

"When I first met you, you were 19, beautiful, always sunny, and just so…human. I lured you in with my time machine, wanting to be near something good, something of beauty, of innocence, to make me feel better." He let go of her and buried his face in his hands, his chest rose and fell rapidly.

"But you did not make me _feel_ better, Rose, you made _me_ better. You made me think I am a man worth being loved, and worth being able to love. I wanted you to love me, and I…I…"

Rose bit on her fist to supress a sob from escaping her throat. She just wanted to hug him, tell him it was OK, that it was not his fault. But she held back, knowing that this guilt in him and been accumulating and consuming him from inside. If she did not give him a chance to get this out, soon enough it would burn them both.

"You came back from the parallel universe, with a gun strapped on your shoulder. Rose, _a gun_! When you were shot by that bloody Dalek, all I wanted was to swap place with you. I'll regenerate, or die without regeneration, or being enslaved and tortured by Davros, whatever, I don't care, as long as you could come back. And you did come back…only to lose part of your _humanity_." He sniffed loudly, having to clear his throat in order to continue.

"Davros was right about one thing. I turn people into weapons, see them transform into murderers. But you, Rose Tyler, the best thing that ever happened to me in my life, you made me better, but I, that life you had with me, it destroyed you. That girl I met, she's gone. Sometimes I just wonder…if you would have been happier had you never met me. You would have had family and friends, never have to fight or...kill, never have to lose your innocence, or sacrifice your humanity…" he finally broke down into a heart wrenching sob, his entire body was shuddering.

"Rose, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…"

Rose could stand no more. She move closer and gently looped her arms around his body. He flinched at the contact, but eventually gave in, leaned in to her embrace, burying his face in her chest while his hands clung desperately on her back. She held him as he wept, and rubbing both hands on his back with soothing movements. Her cheek pressed against his head as she let her own tears streamed down freely.

She had prepared a million speeches to stand her ground if he ever tried to push her away, but never once had she anticipated anything like this.

Gently she nuzzled his hair as he began to calm down. As soon as she was sure that he was sober enough to comprehend, she whispered in his ears, voice soft but firm.

"Doctor, I'm sorry you felt that way. But hear me this, it is not on you, yeah? It is not on you."

"How is it not?" he asked through muffled voice.

She tapped his back gently, making him to pull away and look her in the eyes.

His face was a glorious mess, and the front of her t-shirt was soaking wet, but she couldn't care less. With the sleeve of her t-shirt she wiped away tears from his face, now paler than ever, and pressed her palm tenderly against his cheek. He turned slightly and kissed her palm.

"How long has it been for you, Doctor, since Canary Wharf?"

"Two years, why?"

"Do you know how long it has been for me?" her warm brown eyes tinted with sadness, and the Doctor shook his head in bemusement.

"Seven years. It had been seven bloody years for me in that godforsaken parallel universe."

The Doctor's eyes grew huge with shock, his mouth opened and closed rapidly as if wanting to say something, but she pressed her thumb against his lips.

"For seven years, I have not lived one day without trying to get back to you. I went back to school, got my A-levels and eventually obtained an advanced degree in astrophysics. It was hard, I wasn't particularly good at memorizing all those equations, formulas, laws and propositions, and I sucked in math. But I kept telling myself, 'do it for the Doctor, make him proud'. And Doctor, I _want_ you to be proud of me." She felt heat tingling behind her eyes and she could see that new tears began to well in the Doctor's eyes.

"So I hung in there, knowing that every late night I pulled was one step closer to you. And when the Dimension Canon finally started working, gosh, it was a new round of torment. I can't tell you how many times I missed you by merely a minute, and how many times I had seen you, shouted at you but you couldn't see or hear me." She looked down, trying to press down the lump in her throat that formed from the memories of all the heart wrenching disappointment. She felt the Doctor's large hand covered her small ones, squeezing it gently.

"I carried a gun because I had to. That universe never had a Doctor who could defeat hostile aliens with his witty words and sonic screwdriver. So people have to defend themselves the best they know how. You were right about one thing. I would never have learned to fight, had I never met you. Because I wouldn't have had the chance. I would have died in the basement of the Queens Arcade, killed by window shop dummies, had there never been a daft old man to grab my hand and tell me to run. You said you turn people into weapons, but you didn't. Davros created a race and taught them to hate and kill simply because the rest of the universe is different. But you, you taught people to stand up for what's right, defend what matters, and protect who you love. That was what I did when I saw that Dalek aiming at you. If we go back in time, I would've done the same all over again. And I know for a fact that, had our place been switched. you would have done the same to me."

"Oh, Rose, I…" The Doctor found himself lost for words, a rarity for him. It seemed as if his famous gob had deserted him.

"When I was shot by the Dalek my consciousness was saved by the Bad Wolf, she showed me what was happening on the Crucible, and offered me a choice. I chose to come back without a second thought, at whatever the cost it might be." She did not mention the part where she had been to Galiffrey. "And if the cost is immortality, it is a price I am more than willing to pay."

Rose took a deep breath and walked away, standing in front of the monitor that was displaying her DNA. Even though she did not have an in depth knowledge of biology, she knew _that_ thing looked wrong for a human being.

She turned around, meeting the Doctor's passionate gaze with utmost sincerity.

"I am telling this, Doctor, not because I want to blackmail you into feeling sorry or guilty or responsible. And I don't want you to have to keep me around out of pity or sympathy. Everything that had happened to me, it had all been my own choices and it is up to me to live with the consequences. This new body of mine, it was a gift. It might not be the gift I have wanted, but it was a gift I will need to finally deliver my promise.

"So here I am, not quite so young, not quite so innocent, and not quite so _human._ If this hardened, damaged, and grown-up me can offer you a true forever, Doctor, would you still want it?"


	7. Chapter 7: New Beginning

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DW, or any other show that had inspired me.**

* * *

The Doctor looked at the woman he loved in sheer adoration. Her twinkling and ever so curious eyes had been deepened by wisdom and experience of life; her carefree and somewhat slouchy figure had become composed and graceful; her face, no longer chubby and overly made up, now glowing in confidence that enhanced her natural beauty. And there she was, standing right in front of him, tall and proud. She had never looked more beautiful than now, and he had never loved her more than this very moment.

Without a word, he pressed her soft and warm body firmly against his cool, lean one. He watched her bury her face in his chest, felt her solo heart beating against his twin ones, frantically, but in perfect sync.

"Rose Tyler, how could I not want it? What a shame for me to have thought so little about you. The girl I knew was never gone, she had grown up into someone much better, a brilliant, courageous young woman who crossed universes to give me everything I have ever dreamed, even if I don't deserve any. My precious girl, I am so proud of you. Please, please forgive an old fool for not realizing it any sooner. "

Rose could not stop a wide grin from spreading across her face, even as her tears kept rolling down her cheeks. Her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders just like his around her waist.

"I forgive you." She said, "This, and everything else."

A strange sound came up from the Doctor's throat, as if he just swallowed a cry.

They stood there for a while, tightly wrapped in each other's embrace, breathing in each other's scent, feeling her warmth against his coolness while nuzzling each other's hair affectionately.

"I love you." She said through muffled voice.

"Quite right, too." He replied with an affectionate chuckle.

He pulled away from her slightly, just so that he could look into her eyes.

"You know, now that you are part Time Lord, there is something I wanted to try." He grabbed both her hands and pressed her fingertips against his temples.

Rose's mouth opened in surprise, knowing what it could mean.

"Wait, but…but that's…" She stuttered nervously, not sure if she was excited or scared.

"Do you not want to?" He asked, a hint of fear hit a soft spot in her heart.

"Yes, yes, _of course, I do_." She assured him urgently. "But…I never...what if I accidentally mess up your head?"

The Doctor let out an amused laugh.

"That, Rose Tyler, would take an awful good telepath to accomplish. You are too green for it."

Rose snorted, but nevertheless relaxed at her lack of ability to cause material damage.

"Close your eyes." His command was almost hypnotic. And she obeyed willingly.

For a moment, she saw nothing but darkness. Then she "heard" the Doctor's instruction not through her ears, but through her mind. With a deep breathe, she tried to look beyond the confinement of the dark walls in search for the light of an energy signature.

Her breaths considerably deepened as her mind kept expending. Internally she thanked Jackie for dragging her through all those Yoga sessions, which had inevitably made this process came more naturally for her. For a second she was wondering if Yoga was initially invented as an attempt to revitalize the telepathic abilities for human beings, then she heard a gentle mental nudge from the Doctor.

 _Concentrate, it won't help if your own mind is bouncing all over the places._

 _Sorry!_ She thought back rather sheepishly.

It took her awhile to locate what she was looking for-a ball of radiating energy shining bright orange like the mid-morning sun. She stood there in silent awe, with more than a hint of skeptics, for it glowed so fiercely that she was afraid OF getting burned if standing too close.

 _Could you come closer, please? I won't hurt you._

In her mind, Rose could almost see a picture of the Doctor, waiting for her with open arms, silently pleading. She scolded herself for being such a distrusting coward. This is _her Doctor_ , who would rather die than allowing himself to hurt her.

Slowly she walked towards it, not out of fear but out of adoration, until she fully emerged in the warmth of his mental embrace.

Rose gasped at the sensation. It was thrilling and surreal to have something intangible as the mind experiencing something tangible as touch. The gentle, delicate caress of the Doctor's mind made her heart throb, and she felt absolutely serene in its presence.

 _This is amazing! I could stay here forever._

The light flared in delight. They stayed there for a while just so that she could indulge a bit more, before the Doctor quietly asked if she would like to enter.

Upon voicing her affirmation, Rose found herself in the middle of a grand hall, with corridors crossing each other like a labyrinth spreading out indefinitely. There are doors lining on each side, some were open, some were tightly shut.

 _So how does it work? Is there something you wanna show me, or do you want to me to do my own exploration?_

 _It's up to you, really, what do you prefer?_

The Doctor's voice seemed to have come from everywhere and nowhere. Rose smiled, both mentally and physically.

 _Doctor, you just invited me into the most private part of your life. I think it is only fair to let you make the call instead of me doing what I want._

There was a wave of emotion and gratitude washed over her through their mental link. In turn, she sent out (or tried with her best knowledge) echoes of support and understanding in reply. When the emotional quiver calmed down, she followed his instruction by making three lefts and one right, before stopping in front of a door with a rose carved on it.

The door cracked open invitingly, and Rose walked in with a fluttering stomach and a throbbing heart.

Behind that door, was the story of her life, told from his perspective.

It was an astonishing experience to see the oh-so-familiar scenes unfold while receiving the ever so complex emotions behind each and every one of them: the curiosity and impression at their first encounter; the secret excitement when she agreed to travel with him; the anger and worry every time she was in danger; the overflowing joy every time she returned unharmed; the devastation when she lost the grip of that lever in Canary Wharf; the profound loss when she was trapped in the parallel universe; and the immense anguish and regret when the signal was cut off before he could say what he had always meant to say for the longest time.

On top of all, was his ever presenting, ever growing, and everlasting love.

Finally Rose understood why, given so many chances, he could never say the word- there had been no way of putting it without sounding insultingly inadequate. In the end he decided to show her, what had been deeply rooted in his hearts and mind, ever since the first time he laid eyes on her.

 _There had been a few times when I missed you so much that I couldn't cope. So I went back to the Powell Estate in the 90's, just to see you grow up from a distance, telling myself that you are safe and happy, in another universe with your family, living a good, normal life, one you would have had, had I never shown up._

Rose knew she was crying when she saw a picture of a pre-schooler her playing in the sandbox with Mickey. In the far corner of the street, there was a blue box with a man leaning against it, watching them nostalgically. Growing up, she had always believed there was a guardian angel watching over her. Never once had she imagined it would take the form of a man with a blue box, nor had she ever dared to dream that someday this man would take her to the stars, show her life's infinite broadness, and fall in love with her, and she with him.

Overwhelmed by emotions, she requested to terminate their mental link. The Doctor, albeit reluctantly, granted her wish by guiding her slowly out of his mind.

Once out, Rose retrieved her hands from his temple and wiped her face which is now covered in tears. The Doctor watched her every movement, hands clutched on each side of the trouser legs in anxious anticipation. Every second passed in silence seemed to have contributed more to his nervousness. Finally just as he was about to apologize for apparently no idea what, Rose grabbed him by the lapels, pulled him down and crushed her mouth against his.

The Doctor froze in a moment of shock, then responded to her demand with fervour. He looped both arms over her body and pulled her in until she pressed tightly against him. His hands roamed over her back while his head pressed in. Her tongue was sweeping inside his mouth aggressively, almost invasive, the one invasion he had surrendered without even _trying_ to put up a fight.

He felt an electric wave rising from the bottom of his feet all the way to the tip of his hair, awakening every cell of his body, stimulating the primitive desire that buried deeply in his soul. Through the fabrics of their cloths, he felt Rose's body increased in heat level as if she was on fire…

"Oi! The two of you, get a room!"

The sudden voice made them break apart almost comically, yet still managed to keep an arm around each other. They turned to the door simultaneously and saw one Donna Noble leaning against the frame, arms folded in front of her chest, with fake annoyance and distaste on her face.

They exchanged a glance and returned to looked at Donna again. Both of them knew they should probably say something, but neither had any idea of what.

"You know, I woke up, finding myself fallen asleep in my cloths, with this sticky notes in my hand telling me to report to the infirmary immediately upon awakening. So here I come, as instructed, and what do I walk into? The two of you snogging each other's brain out!" she rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Well…we, um…" The Doctor gave Rose a beseeching look, to which the latter only replied with an apologetic shrug.

"We…um…got a bit distracted", was the best the Doctor could come up with. Rose grabbed his arm and flashed Donna a wide, toothy and almost fawning grin.

Donna gave them both a snort and flopped down on the examination bench, studying them skeptically.

"So, does either one of you want to tell what the hell had happened to me?"

The pair instantly alarmed, to which Donna gave them another roll of the eyes.

"Look, if the time boy here had played with my mind, which I hope was for a damn good reason, he could at least do a more thorough job. The last thing I remembered was me, inside the TARDIS, which was about to blow up. And you, blondie, were lying there, dead. Given the scene I had just landed myself in, it was bound to have some questions."

The Doctor let go of Rose, walked over and sat down beside Donna.

"You are right, Donna, something had happened to you, made you do great things, but it was killing you As a result, all traces of memories associated with it had to go."

Donna bowed her head as the words sank in. Her eyes were dimmed with confusion as if trying to make sense of everything. Rose walked over and sat down on the other side, put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"So…I reckon whatever happened to me was the same thing that brought you back from death? Then how come you are OK while I have to get my mind all scrambled?" Donna asked with more than a hint of irritation in her voice.

Rose and the Doctor exchanged a meaningful look.

"Well, when I came back, I sorta, changed…I am not who I used to be." She ran a hand over her face, it was really difficult to come up with a decent explanation all the while dancing around the very subject that needed to be explained.

The Doctor, however, placed a hand on Donna's cheek and turned her to face him.

"Look, Donna, there's something we cannot tell you, because if you remembered just for a second, you will burn up. But what I can tell you, is that you were brilliant, as you have always been. I want you to remember that there are worlds out there, safe in the sky, because of you; that there are people living in the light, and singing songs of Donna Noble, a thousand million light-years away. They will never forget you, while you can never remember. And for one moment, one shining moment, you were the most important woman in the whole wide universe, and you still are, Donna, just being you."

Donna looked at her best mate with tears The truthfulness and honesty in those deep brown eyes were unmistakable. And she believed him. From the sound of it, she must have saved the world, or worlds, for that matter, even though she had no idea of why or how. And perhaps that was good enough. For once, Donna Noble, a temp from Chiswick, did something that would be remembered by the universe, even though she herself had to have forgotten it. But that was all right, wasn't it? It would be a story people would talk about for years to come, one of those Donna Noble stories where she missed it all again.

With a long sigh she composed herself.

"Well, I guess that is a happy ending for all of us then." She smiled at them, albeit somewhat melancholy. "You have your Rose back, the earth is saved, everyone lives happily ever after, an old fairy tale comes true. Guess me losing a bit of my memory was a fair price to pay for all that."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a glance again, but neither said anything.

"Well, then." Donna slid down the bench with a much cheerier tone. "If you don't mind, I really wanna make myself a cup of tea before going through all the medical examinations. The two of you better sort yourselves out while I'm gone. I really don't want to walk into your making-out ever again, once was enough to scar me forever." With that, she exited the door with a skip under her feet.

Rose walked over to stand by the Doctor, their fingers interlaced with each other.

"She seemed to have taken it rather well." She said.

"Yeah." The Doctor replied absently.

"Doctor, what's on your mind?"

The doctor watched Donna's retreating figure for a moment longer before focusing back to the love of his life.

"I think the Bad Wolf might have done more than just wiping out her memory. She also _implanted_ something in her subconscious, something to make her believe all the great things she had done was true."

"But that's good, isn't it? Now that she had finally truly believe that she is capable of accomplish something so great as to save the universe. It will do her good in the future, won't it?"

The Doctor looked at his blonde girl intently before giving her a wide spread grin.

"Oh, yeah, it is. It is indeed."

Rose felt the fatigue of the past days had finally caught up with her, now that she had fully relaxed. She involuntarily let out an enormous yawn, which made the doctor chuckle in amusement.

"Come on, then, let's get you some rest." He said, one arm looped over her shoulder and led her out of the door.

Rose's room inside the TARDIS had been kept the same as the day she left. Although she knew the maintenance would largely attribute to the ship herself, she could just imagine how many nights the Doctor had spent here, sitting on the edge of the empty bed, remembering all those time they had spent together.

The Doctor tucked her in under the fluffy pink duvet, and pressed a gentle, chaste kiss on her lips.

"Good night, my love, have a sweet dream."

Rose looked back at him with bleary eyes.

"Join me later?" She asked with a little pout on her face.

"Yes, ma'am. Your wish is my command." He smile at her tenderly, pressing another kiss on her forehead.

And she replied him with a soft snore.

* * *

Donna sat in the kitchen, alone, holding a mug with both hands, let the warmth from the content inside soak through her fingertips. Her eyes were unfocused, and her mind was replaying all past events she still remembered that had taken place in the past…gosh, had it only been a few days?

The earth had been stolen but found, the enemy had been defeated, universe had been saved, apparently by her, and, the Doctor had got his Rose back.

That thought alone brought a smile on her face. She was happy for him, she really was. She had been there the day he had burned up a sun to say goodbye, anticipating never to see the love of his life again. When she had found him the second time, he looked much older and more deprived than ever. But everything changed, when that little blonde girl turned up around the corner of the deserted street, in the darkest hour of the earth. She'd never seen her mate grin so wide and genuine, yet all that, was snatched away in a split of a second by a bloody Dalek…

She sighed at the memory of her best friend holding the dead girl's body in anguish. She could never imagine what the girl had gone through to return to this universe, and again to return from death, just to be with her Doctor.

But nothing mattered now. She was back, he was happy. The Doctor and Rose Tyler inside the TARDIS, just as it should be.

Soon they would take off, resume their journey from where they had left off. They would start running for their lives again, hand in hand, laughing in the face of danger. The Doctor would stand up for everyone that was exploited and oppressed, to defend and to protect, with Rose stood firmly by his side. All evil would shy away at their presence, and the worlds would sing in praise. In a thousand years of time they would truely become the stuffs of the legend, and the universe would remember their names.

They would become so inseparable that if they were ever torn apart by any force, they would rip down time and space just to get back to each other. They would become so close that there would be no space for anyone else to stand in between.

Perhaps it was time to say goodbye.

It had been good, though, what they'd seen, and what they'd done. She would miss the stars, the running and the rush of adrenaline. But with everything they had been through, perhaps it was time to get reacquainted with Planet Earth, live a life day after day, like 7 billion others, with a new level of appreciation. She could start travelling again, to all the great places on earth. Maybe she would visit Pompeii, thousands of years after its destruction, to see the city being reborn out of the ruin. Perhaps she would pay a visit to Mesopotamia, or Egypt, or the Orient, just to see how far human race had come, with histories lost in all the time and space, leaving traces of it behind.

She took a sip of her now much cooler tea, and let out a content sigh. The earth may be a small place in universe, but the world was a large place for her to see.

She was excited about everything, the new Donna, new life, new journey.

It was not the end, it was the beginning.

* * *

 **A/N: So here it is, the last full chapter of this story. I would like to thank everyone who has read, followed, favoured and/or reviewed this story, hope it has lived up to your standard. It has been 7 years since the 10th Doctor regenerated, and given the length of the story and the short time span I used to update it, the attention I received was flattering to say the least. Like I said, there will be sequels to this story, but it will take a while for me to finish them first (as stated in my profile, I generally don't publish unfinished work). Soon there will be my first one-shot, which I have joggled down while working on this story. As I said before, I hope you have enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy, my stories.**

 **P.S. When Jack talked about visiting the Powell Estate in the 90s in _Utopia,_ am I the only one who think the Doctor's face was a give-away to the fact that he'd done the same?**


	8. Epilogue: In Starlight

**Disclaimer: In the end, I suppose I still don't own anything.**

* * *

The Doctor pulled himself out of the compartment under the console after finishing off the last bit of repair job, stretching his neck and shoulder in satisfaction. It could have been worse, considering the ship had been tossed into a pit of z-neutrino energy. His smart girl had done a remarkable job patching it up.

He looked up and saw the said girl sitting on the edge of the opening TARDIS door, her feet dandling in the empty space, completed immersed in the scenery of the outer space. His lips curled up into a soft smile. It was so good to have her back, and if he could help it, he would not let her leave his sight ever again.

So far this day had been perfect, well, almost, waking up with his pink and yellow not-completely-human in his arms, talking, laughing, holding hands and stealing kisses like the good old time. The only down turn had been when Donna bid her farewell. He knew from the very beginning that she would leave someday, but he did not anticipate it being so soon. Deep down, he knew that she had always been different. She had her own ways of looking at the world. Unlike Rose who was constantly motivated by the unknown, she took in the good, the bad, and the ugly of the universe and looked at as a whole. It was no wonder that someday, she would retreat to her old lifestyle, appreciate the goodness and normality of daily life, because with so many bad things going on every day around the universe, it was the simplest thing anyone could treasure. But Rose would stay with him, because out there somewhere, there was always something to see, to explore, to experience, and it was better with two.

For the millionth time he was astonished by how lucky he, or this version of him, had been, to have both a mate and a soulmate. He would miss Donna, and he would not be ashamed to admit that they'd had the best time together. She had filled a place in his life that even Rose could not, a simple, dynamic, close and platonic friendship; and he knew Rose had liked her just as much. And now his best friend had moved on with her life, he wished her all the luck in the universe.

He stood up, grabbing his jacket and felt the small hard object inside one of the pockets. It had been there since even before the Battle of Canary Wharf. He had wanted to use it as soon as Rose promised him forever, because it was the least he could promise to her. But afterwards, everything went down to hell, for a very long time, he thought he would never have the opportunity to use it again.

Taking out the blue velvet box, his smile deepened. He would use it someday, and hopefully soon. But not right now, that would have been too rushed. This was his one chance, and he wanted it to be done right, in the right time at the right place, to the right person. And what was more? He had already got a plan in his head.

Rose shivered at the chill of the outer space. She had forgotten how cold it could be even with the force field of the TARDIS. But she refused to move, because she had missed this, for a good seven years. She had missed to see the stars so up close, see the details of their rings, the colour of their atmosphere, and the shape of their satellites. She'd missed bathing in the starlight, feeling the sharp contrast of the coldness on her face, and the warmth of the TARDIS on her back. She'd missed simply being here, with the man who she knew was never far away from her side.

Her lips curled into a soft smile. Now that she'd come back, she wondered if that man would finally make the move to take their relationship up a notch. It would take some time, she reckoned, and for good reasons, too. After all, it had only be a couple of days, there were still some facts that needed to sink in, and problems needed to be sorted out.

But the good news was, she'd got all the time in the world now, which meant, if he ever made her wait for too long, there would be plenty of chances for her to "help" him making the move.

Another shiver came with the chill, this time, accompanied by a sneeze.

"You all right, love?" The said man asked as he walked over, draped his suit jacket over her shoulder and settled down beside her.

She wrapped herself tight, breathing in his scent that was soaked through the fabric. Oh she had loved how he smelled, so alien yet so good, enough to make her heart flutter and her body aroused.

"Yup." She answered, popping the "p". "Considering it's minus 455 Fahrenheit out there, I am doing quite good, don't you think?"

The Doctor looked at her rather impressively.

"Minus 455 Fahrenheit, did you learn that in astrophysics?"

"No, I read it off Wikipedia." She answered him with blank face.

"Oh…well, good for you." He was a bit taken aback by the answer, before noticing a crack of mischief appeared on her face.

They burst out laughing simultaneously. The Doctor looped an arm around her shoulders, and she snuggled in contently.

"So this is it then, just you and me, seeing the stars rise and fall, for thousands of years to come." He looked down at his girl, who looked right back at him.

"Well, I've got only one life, and I wouldn't want to spend it any other way."

He pulled her in tighter, both arms wrapped around her body. Her face was buried in the crook of his neck, and he nuzzled her hair affectionately.

They stayed there for a while in companionate silence.

"Rose, I have always wanted to asked…That Bad Wolf, who was she?"

Rose pulled away from him, face scrunched in confusion.

"She was…me, or rather, I was her. She said something about one consciousness being split in two." She looked back at the Doctor, who had a deep frown on his face.

"And did you get anything from her when she was in your mind?" he asked.

"You know what's weird? When our consciousness merged, we shared the same thoughts, same knowledge, but never memories. All memories were mine and hers were just…not there, like it was blank, being wiped out or something."

She sighed and shook her head.

"But she's gone now, guess we'll never find out who she was. And the knowledge we shared, it's in my head somewhere, but it was as if being locked away, I can't even access it anymore."

"What do you mean by 'she' s gone'?"

Rose looked at him with a hint of remorse in her eyes.

"She's dead, absorbed by the time vortex. She mentioned she'd been manipulating time for a while in order to…give us a better future. And I never even bothered to ask why."

The Doctor rested his chin on his fist, appeared to be deep in thought. Then he snapped his fingers suddenly as realization dawned on him.

"That's it, that all make more sense now. I had the feeling that someone had been manipulating time for ages, at first I thought it was Dalek Caan. But he saw time, doesn't mean he knows how to _manipulate_ time, there is no way he could have known how to wield the power of the Time Vortex. On the contrary, if you and the Bad Wolf were the same consciousness split in two, it explains why you were able to do what you did at the Game Station. But you had no control over it because such ability resides only in subconscious."

Rose raised one eye brow at her increasingly excited Doctor.

"OK, I'm glad you figured that one out. Although when told someone had died, even if it's someone neither of us knew very well, a 'sorry' would be more appropriate. After all, she saved all our lives."

The Doctor put both hands on her shoulders, deep brown eyes looking into hers with true honesty.

"Rose, I am sorry she died, I really am. I am forever indebted to what she'd done back on the on the Crucible. Without her, I doubt any of us would get out alive. However as a Time Lord, I disapprove her action of manipulating time, for whatever reason. That being said, I am glad she had brought you back, to me, for which I shall be eternally grateful."

Rose felt her heart was deeply touched by his words. She pulled in, and pressed a light kiss on his lips. The chaste kiss soon grew into heated one, and heated one grew into passionate.

Finally they broke apart, his eyes dark with passion and desire, the very same that was reflected in her eyes.

"Shall we go inside?" He asked breathlessly.

She barely managed to give a light nod before crushing her lips onto his once more.

He scooped her up without breaking the kiss, closing the TARDIS door with one foot, and started heading down the corridor.

* * *

 **A/N: So I was doing some work related research, trying to find the HSBC headquarter in London, UK. Guess where that is? 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf! Boy I laughed like an idiot for a full minute.**


End file.
